A Lost Bloom in the Snow
by kyro2009
Summary: Summer Rose, a highly skilled destroyer of monsters and baker of cookies, was just finishing up her assignment when she suddenly gets dropped into a portal to a whole new world of magic, warriors and dragons. Having forced to adjust to her new situation and travel alongside the Dragonborn of prophecy, can she survive long enough to find a way back?
1. Chapter 1

A Lost Bloom in the Snow

Chapter 1: Unbound and out of nowhere, part 1

Somewhere near Vale's mountains

It was dusk. A woman strode through the lightly wooded hills by the mountains, a white traveling cloak to shield her from the weather, looking for signs of her prey while keeping an eye out for dangers. It had been a few days since she had been given the mission to hunt down a monster threatening a mountainside village, but this was not just any monster. It was a creature belonging to a family of horrors without souls that single mindedly seek the extinction of all humankind, and the destruction of their creations. They were known as creatures of destruction, the creatures of Grimm.

She had followed the tracks of such a beast. It had been erratic, going to and fro without settling for a clear direction. There were a few packs of Grimm who ran into her, but they were easy to dispatch. The further she went, however, the stronger her suspicions became: this was turning out to be a wild goose chase. And one longer than usual at that. Her prolonged absence would be worrying her husband and daughters by now. She would have to make it up to them when she got back home. Time for her specialty cookies? Or maybe a wild berries pie? She giggled under her breath at the ideas.

That was her last frivolous thought for the day, as the sound of movement ahead had her box those sweet thoughts away and immediately shift back into the mindset of the experienced fighter and huntress that she was. The earth beneath her trembled as mighty footsteps approached, and underneath the cloak her hands sought the handles of the bearded war axes that were her weapons. The Grimm was coming. Better that she was ready to meet it.

The tracks she had been following had hinted at a large Grimm, but that was that — exactly what kind of beast it was, she could not fathom. So, when it at last came into view over the tree lined hill, her eyes widened with a hint of fear. It was a monstrously huge giant of a Grimm, with long, boney arms and sharp claws, and quadrupedal legs. It's bony head resembled that of a deer, complete with ears, it's jaws lined with razor sharp teeth. The antlers atop its head seemed incongruous, which only made it more menacing.

She had read about such a Grimm, a beast so rare that they were thought to be a dark fairytale meant to frighten children into obedience. A beast that would even feast on its own kind to replenish and heal itself. Wendigo.

Out of the tree line and up close, it stared down at her with its demonic glowing eyes, as if it thought of her as a snack. Then it reeled back and let out an otherworldly screech so loud she winced and had to cover her ears; only the reflexes born out of years of experience saved her as her body felt danger before her mind did and she dashed away, dodging the jaws that clamped shut where she had been. The axes were on her hands now, and she readied herself for a battle she would never forget… if she made it out alive.

* * *

Somewhere in Skyrim, northern province of Tamriel

Sundas, 7:40 AM, 17th of Last Seed, Year 4E 201

When his consciousness came back to him, he suddenly felt a splitting headache, and the sound of horses clattering on cobblestone and creaking of wood flooded his ears.

"Ugh, my head," he grumbled as he tried to open his heavy eyes, only to be met with a blurry vision. It took some time, but eventually they became clear for him to see. He was sitting in a wagon, sitting across from a Nord rebel in binds while an imperial soldier was driving the horse. Beyond the cart, of course, was a land not too different from the northern county of Cyrodiil. They were winding down a cobbled road around piles of boulders, towering firs and cedars, along with clumps of snow berries and other shrubs. The Snow clung to shaded areas under trees and between the rocks, and the sky was mostly covered in menacing grey clouds over the nearby mountain range. He looked farther ahead of the driver to see more horse powered carts carrying more of the Nords in the same outfit as the man in front, all bound in the same manner. He, too had his wrists tied with rope when he looked down, and the question which ran through his mind was what crime he committed to deserve this. There were also other legionnaires riding on horseback on either sides of the carts, probably to make sure no one made an escape.

"Hey, you. You're finally awake." He turned away from the sightseeing to see the Nord speaking to him. "You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into that Imperial ambush, same as us, and that thief over there." He turned his head to the direction of said thief, who was a Nord covered in dirt and wearing rags, same as he himself apparently.

"Damn you Stormcloaks," said the thief seethingly. "Skyrim was fine until you came along. Empire was nice and lazy. If they hadn't been looking for you, I could've stolen that horse and been halfway to Hammerfell." Then he looked in the prisoner's direction. "You there... You and me, we shouldn't be here. It's these Stormcloaks the Empire wants."

Now everything was coming back to him. He remembered to be on a mission, bearing the promise to find a body and bring him back to Cyrodiil for a funeral. He had just gotten through the Jerall Mountains bordering Skyrim by taking the Pale Pass using the legal transcripts to get through. On his way to Darkwater Pass, he nearly got ran over by a thief riding a stolen horse. Then he accidentally came upon a group of rebels lead by their leader, Ulfric, by complete coincidence.

That's when it all went down.

Imperial soldiers came out from both sides and surrounded the rebels. Rather than fight they surrendered by their leader's orders. He did, too, and he tried to explain his innocence, but none would listen to him. Suddenly, even though he wore a helmet then, all it took was one swing from a Nord legionnaire to knock him out cold. Now he was sitting in the back of this cart, stripped of his armor, gear and weapons; arrested for being at the wrong place at the wrong time, for being presumably associated with a group of Nord rebels he had no affiliation with.

"We're all brothers and sisters in binds now, thief." Said the Nord.

"What have I gotten myself into," the prisoner muttered as he sighed.

"Shut up back there." The driver said in annoyance, but that simply fell on deaf ears apparently.

"What's up with him, huh?" The horse thief asked as he looked at the Nord hunching over next to the prisoner's right. He had dirty brown hair, and wore a fur lined coat as far as he could tell from where he sat. He was bound like the rest, but he was also gagged with a cloth covering his mouth.

The Nord rebel glared at him. "Watch your tongue. You're speaking to Ulfric Stormcloak, the true High King," he scolded the thief.

"Ulfric, the Jarl of Windhelm? You're the leader of the rebellion. If they've captured you…," his eyes began to widen with realization. "Oh gods, where are they taking us?"

"I don't know where we're going, but Sovngarde awaits." The Nord said in a solemn tone as he had his head lowered and looking away.

"This can't be happening. This isn't happening." The horse thief's panic had begun to grow. The prisoner, too, was panicking inside, though he never showed it.

"Where are you from, horse thief?" The rebel asked.

"Why do you care?" He asked skeptically while still in fear of whatever was going to happen to him.

"A Nord's last thoughts should be of home," he explained.

He was skeptical about it at first, but since his death was coming sooner or later, or perhaps simply wanting to humor the rebel, the thief answered, "Rorikstead, I'm… I'm from Rorikstead."

Then the rebel turned to the prisoner. "And what about you, stranger, where are you from?"

"...I'm from Bruma." He answered.

"The northern city of Cyrodiil? Now I understand where you got those muscles, Imperial." He concluded with a compliment as the drivers neared the opened entrance to a walled town.

He made to explain—

"General Tullius, sir! The Headsman is waiting!" One of the soldiers called out.

"Good, let's get this over with." The general replied.

"Shor, Mara, Dibella, Kynareth, Akatosh. Divines, please help me." Loudly he prayed out, hoping desperately for a miracle, but he fearfully knew there was never going to be anyone coming to save him.

"Look at him. General Tullius, the military governor," the blonde Nord spat as he gave a glancing glare at the general, noticing that he did not come alone. "And it looks like the Thalmor are with him. Damn elves, I'll bet they had something to do with this."

The Imperial prisoner looked in the General's direction, seeing three elves. Two were on foot and wearing elven armor, the other was on a horse and was vaguely female wearing a black, golden ornate robe or coat. The Thalmor. Gods, did he hate them, like many of the survivors from the Great War. They led the Aldmeri Dominion which nearly conquered the heart of the Empire, and forced them into a treaty known as the White Gold Concordat which saved the Empire to live to see another day… at the cost of banning Talos worship, and more. He did not need to guess how deeply that affected the Nordic people of Skyrim.

"This is Helgen," the rebel named it. "I used to be sweet on a girl from here. Wonder if Vilod is still making that mead with juniper berries mixed in." He was fond of those memories of the time, but then he had become more solemn in his tone. "Funny, when I was a boy, Imperial walls and towers used to make me feel so safe."

The Imperial pondered on the words he said, all while he heard a boy somewhere watching the whole spectacle.

"Who are they, papa? Where are they going?" The boy asked, standing on the porch to the house as he watched.

"You need to go inside, little cub." His father ordered.

"Why? I want to watch the soldiers." He protested.

"Inside the house. Now." He ordered sternly.

"Yes, papa." He conceded as he turned away from the view and went inside the house as he was told.

"Woah!" One of the drivers said as he pulled the reins on the horse to stop and park with the others.

"Get these prisoners out of the carts, move it!" A female soldier in heavy imperial armor ordered them, and he did not need to guess she was the captain.

"Why are we stopping?" The horse thief asked with fright.

"Why do you think?" The Nord replied. "End of the line." He then turned his attention to the Imperial as the cart was parked along with the others. "Let's go. Shouldn't keep the gods waiting for us."

* * *

Meanwhile

The white cloaked Huntress was fighting for dear life. She had already landed a few hits, but they weren't deep enough to actually cause harm. She dodged left, right, even over a swipe from the gargantuan beast. She tried going in to chop at the Wendigo's boney ankles, but she had to move out of a claw trying to grab her. For a monster of such size, it was quite fast in both reaction and movement. So she had to switch things up a bit by using her Aura to flip a switch inside her axes, rotating the blades to where the beards were pointing upwards like swords—

But the Wendigo was instantly upon her while her weapons were changing, and she went dashing backwards desperately from the slams of the beast's palms three times, each one kicking up an explosion of dirt. To her fright she was not fast enough before it then slammed its clawed hands together to crush and grab what remains of her, but what the Grimm did not realize was she had a trick up her sleeve. She ran right through the Wendigo's clasped hands, being a ghostly apparition with white rose petals flowing from her very being. It looked down in complete surprise, and that slight hesitation was enough for her to return to her corporeal form and made a jump at its chest as she stabbed under the rib cages with both of her blades.

The Wendigo yelped in both pain and surprise, though the blade tips missed its heart. It then backed up and tried to smack her away, but she turned intangible again and kept up her assault. For all its strength and speed, the monster had no way of countering her Semblance, as while Intangibility was active nothing could harm her, be it physical weapons, Dust, or Aura based Semblance, and she could simply walk through doors and people like they were not there. But it also meant she could not fight herself. She can even go through objects such as doors and people. The only drawbacks are that she cannot fight while being in this form, and since it also consumes Aura, she has to use it sparingly.

The gargantuan beast tried to back away and attack her defensively, but she kept changing from intangible to tangible as she stabbed and slashed at the beasts torso and legs. The damage was slowly taking its toll on it, but it was growing furious to the point where the beast decided jump high into the air. The Huntress looked up and widened with fear knowing what it planned to do. So instead of using her Semblance, she used her true power coming from her silver eyes as they glowed. Her power had given her the speed necessary to dash away from the crash landing that formed a crater around it, but it howled shortly in pain from one of its legs being shattered, due to being severely damaged the most by the Huntress's onslaught. His rage dulled his pain as he roared and used its still functioning limbs to lash out at her, and instantly she was back in the fray.

* * *

"No! Wait! We're not rebels!" The horse thief pleaded his innocence as they all got up from their seats.

"Face your death with some courage thief." The Stormcloak rebel remarked as they all stood in line.

"You've got to tell them! We weren't with you! This is a mistake!" Sadly his words reached deaf ears as they all hopped off the cart, one at a time. Soon the prisoners were all off the wagons and gathered in one spot.

"Step towards the block when we call your name. One at a time." The captain instructed harshly. The soldier who rode behind them stood to her left with a list in one hand and a quill in the other.

"Empire loves their damn lists." The blonde Nord muttered in distaste at the soldiers' habit of listing in particular.

"Ulfric Stormcloak. Jarl of Windhelm." The Nord soldier named and checked.

"It has been an honor. Jarl Ulfric." The blonde rebel said in honorable farewell.

"Ralof of Riverwood." He named and checked next, referring to the blonde rebel standing next to the Imperial, but the Imperial thought he heard his tone change subtly in resentment, as if he knew him, or maybe he simply resented the rebels. Ralof walked up with the rest of his comrades after that.

"Lokir of Rorikstead." The soldier named and checked next.

"I'm not a rebel! You can't do this!" Lokir argued in both outrage and fear as he walked up to them. Then suddenly, when he believed that words were not enough to save him, he decided to book it and made a run for the exit.

"Halt!" The captain yelled but he ignored her for the sake of running for his life.

"You're not going to kill me!"

"Archers!" She ordered, and two arrows pierced into both his skull and back, killing him before he could reach the gate.

"Does anyone else feel like running?" She dared the prisoners as she turned to them, waiting for an excuse to have more of them dead much sooner than later.

"Wait. You there. Come here." The soldier asked the Imperial, and he stepped forward towards the two as he then stopped right in front of them. He could tell he had a look of confusion on his face. Perhaps this might possibly show that he was not on the list, and a flicker of hope had begun to brighten.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"I am Adrien Artorius, a knight sworn to Bruma." He answered in truth.

"That would explain the armor," he remembered. "Yet you're a long way from the Imperial County. What're you doing here in Skyrim?" He asked curiously.

"I came here to find the body of Henrik Erenssen." Adrien explained. "His father requested I bring him back to Bruma for a proper burial."

"Sorry, but I don't believe I've ever heard of him." The captain replied unconvinced as she crossed her arms. The bound knight gave her a hard look, slightly aghast that she did not trust the word of a knight, and thus his hopes were beginning to falter.

"He left Bruma to join up with the Imperial Legion. A letter was sent to his father that he died in battle." He explained further, trying to convince them that he came here on good authority. "I have the letter in my satchel if you don't believe me."

"Captain, what should we do? He's not on the list." He asked the higher ranked officer, unsure of what to do.

"Forget the list, he goes to the block."

"What?! You can't be serious!" The knight argued with shock.

"We caught you red handed when you met up with the Stormcloaks at Darkwater Pass! Don't even try to lie to us!"

"A knight never lies!" He argued back as he threateningly leaned closer.

"What is going on here, what's the holdup!?" General Tullius asked impatiently as he walked up to them.

"This prisoner claims he's a knight from Bruma, and on a mission to find some corpse off the battlefield." The captain explained to him.

"Is that so?" He then turned to the knight. "You'd be hard pressed to find his body. We've buried our dead on each battlefield, many of them unmarked." Then he turned back to the captain. "So, did any of you check his belongings to see if he told the truth?"

"We… did not bother to do so, sir." She replied with both hesitation and embarrassment that they did not follow through on their duty.

"I see. We'll be talking about this after the execution. As for you…," he turned to face the Imperial, "I'm sorry, but you did walk into the border in the middle of a Civil War, legally or no, and into the proximity of the rebels. Innocent or not I can't let you go. Too much is at stake here, and I cannot let this opportunity slip away. You'll have to join with the rest." He concluded as he turned around back to the block.

"By your orders, General." Then the Nord soldier turned his head to him in sympathy. "I'm sorry, we'll make sure your remains are returned to Bruma. Follow the captain prisoner."

His head hung low in solemn defeat, his hopes of living to fulfill his promise were dashed away. He followed the captain, but not without calling out. "General Tullius!"

He turned his head to the Imperial in slight irritation. "What is it?"

"Please, will you promise me you will find Henrik's body and send him back to his father in my stead? It's all I ask." He pleaded him.

The General sighed. "I can't keep any promises, but I will try." He answered before turning his attention back to the gagged Ulfric to begin the execution. "Ulfric Stormcloak. Some here in Helgen call you a hero. But a hero doesn't use a power like "The Voice" to murder his king and usurp his throne."

The Nord was saying something, but it was muffled from being gagged.

"You started this war, plunged Skyrim into chaos, and now the Empire is going to put you down, and restore the peace."

Suddenly, the sound of something otherworldly, something no one had ever heard before, resounded off in the distance, startling a few.

"What was that?" The Nord soldier asked.

"It's nothing." the General dismissed. "Carry on."

"Yes, General Tullius." The captain saluted, then turned her attention to the priestess of Arkay. "Give them their last rites."

* * *

Meanwhile

She dashed back from the swipe, but then she rolled forward under another swipe and gave one slice to its torso before jumping over another and backing away. This was going to get her nowhere, not while this thing was unpredictably more aggressive. After dodging an attack from the angry Wendigo, the Huntress soon decided that fighting from a distance was the only option for now. So she became intangible when the beast lunged for her, and she dashed through it to being far enough behind it while the Wendigo felt almost satisfied and oddly confused. Being far enough away, she returned to her tangible form and connected the pommels of her weapons, and upon activation they quickly transformed into a bow, the axe heads splitting in two to reveal its bowstring coming out from within the weapon to complete it. She pulled out a retracted arrow from her customized quiver strapped to the right side of her waist. This quiver was designed to house forty condensed Dust arrows, the arrowheads as of which were made of crystallized fire Dust. And luckily for her, fire was a Wendigo's weakness.

The Wendigo turned around after hearing the noise she made to be surprised she was still alive, and it annoyed the soulless beast as it growled menacingly with its opening jaws.

The arrow extended upon activation, and she knocked the arrow to the bowstring and pulled in one swift movement. She did not take long to aim before releasing the arrow into the beast's left shoulder spot on. The arrow exploded upon piercing its flesh, and it blew off small chunks of flesh as the shoulder was left with a ghastly scorch mark. The Wendigo shrieked in both burning pain and fear as it clutched its shoulder, but another fiery shot to its right arm made it more difficult to contain.

She fired arrow after arrow as she moved around it while keeping her distance, scorching the monster with nasty burn marks with each one she released as the monster recoiled about. But from the pain, the Wendigo's anger grew until it finally snapped and lashed out at her in desperation. The surprise attack had given her no choice but to be intangible again, and the beast wildly landed right on top of her. She went around the beast in a cloud of white rose petals to be behind it, and when she regained her form she had already knocked an arrow and ready to fire, but the Wendigo spun about to slash her downwards when she released the arrow, and she turned intangible again when the claws soon raked earth and the arrow exploded in its right shoulder. The Wendigo did not care, its rage already dulling the pain, as it went wildly attacking her.

Normally she would try her best to avoid abusing her Semblance if she could help it, but this beast had barely given her any room to maneuver. She had no other choice, she had to try and end this quickly before—

Out of nowhere, three Ursas attacked her from behind, forcing her to turn intangible again as the Grimm bears mauled at nothing but air. Then, when the Wendigo's claws continued its arc, the creature raked at two of the Grimm, mortally wounding them in the process.

She became tangible off to the side and released her arrows at the unharmed Ursa first, remembering very clearly in fear that the Wendigo has to devour its victims alive instead of dead in order to heal. She took down the first two, but she was too late when the Wendigo grabbed the mortally wounded Grimm bear and, as if it were starving, it immediately and voraciously devoured the helpless creature, chunk by chunk until there was no more. The monster's wounds were disappearing, and it turned about and wasted no time in attacking her with renewed vigor as it screamed.

* * *

The priestess raised up her arms in prayer as she spoke their last rites. "As we commend your souls to Aetherius, blessing of the Eight Divines upon you, for you are the salt and earth of Nirn, our beloved—

"For the love of Talos, shut up and let's get this over with!" A nord rebel interrupted, prompting her to stop as she did so while he walked up to the chopping block.

"As you wish." She replied with annoyance from the interruption.

"Come on, I haven't got all morning!" He said to hasten it, with no hint of fear in his voice or posture whatsoever. He was pushed down by the captain's hand, then used her armored boot to push him down the rest of the way. He smiled as he looked up to the Headsman, and when he spoke, it was not being directed towards his executioner. "My ancestors are smiling on me, Imperials. Can you say the same?" It was the last words he said before his head was chopped off and fell into the basket. His execution had caused a mixed reaction from the crowd, including one of the rebels.

"You Imperial bastards!"

"Justice!"

"Death to the Stormcloaks."

"As fearless in death, as he was in life." Ralof said in grim respect.

"Next, the renegade from Cyrodiil!" She pointed at Adrien.

Then the otherworldly sound had come up again, this time closer than before.

"There it is again. Did you hear that?" The soldier asked again.

"I said, next Prisoner!"

"To the block prisoner, nice and easy."

* * *

This was getting bad. She had only a quarter of her Aura left. If she used her Intangibility Semblance one more time…; not only will she become nearly exhausted but vulnerable, an easy victim for the Wendigo to kill or devour. She had to do this, she had to use the power of her silver eyes to kill it or else it was game over for her.

So she went about being up close by forming into a cloud of white rose petals, and with the aid of her silver eyes which got her to use less of her Aura, she zipped around the creature, driving it into confusion as it tried to catch her form in its burned claws. Then she gave it the slip as she went narrowly under it when it clamped its jaws, making the beast look about where she went until she was a good enough distance away.

She did a whistle to get its attention, and it turned around to see the Huntress having her bow and arrow ready, and her silver eyes shined fiercely. The Wendigo screeched and charged wildly at her when she let her arrow fly, and at the same time her eyes fired tendrils of light, reaching out and completely swirling around the fire Dust arrow until it collided with the beast's chest. The powerfully enchanted arrow exploded and burned the beast with holy light, and the soulless monster screamed with immense pain before it disintegrated into nothing, leaving it's death scream to echo through the hilltop valleys and mountain sides.

The Huntress hunched over and panted as she lowered her bow, her seriously weakened Aura a little taxing to her along with the fatigue of an immense battle. Using her silver eyes were helpful at times if she was going to be in a predicament, or if she wanted to end a battle quickly, but she had been warned since childhood never to use it excessively. Otherwise, she would be drawing some unsavory attention. While she tried to regain her breath, a small, breathy chuckle began to escape from her lips. Then suddenly she stood straight up with a cheer.

"WOOHOOOO! I DID IT! Ha ha!" She cheered up at the dusk sky in triumphant laughter as she raised her empty hand and bow into the air. Then she lowered her arms. "Summer: one! Grimm: zero~!" She counted playfully as she pumped her fist into the air on the last one.

"Oh this'll be a story for the girls when I get back!" She thought out loud gleefully as she went about using her Aura to have her weapon actively pull the string back inside as it went about reverting back to blade form before going back to being the war axes. Then she slipped them both into the straps on her sides with deft hands as she then patted them once. She brought out her compass to find the way back, but suddenly… something felt off from all around her. It was quiet… too quiet. The silence soon broke when a rumbling came from all directions, and from the hills all around she saw the Grimm. They were becoming a horde as the volume grew louder. Soon she was completely surrounded by them, with no way out to escape from.

She was troubled by this turn of events. She thought back to how it all came to this when she remembered the Wendigo screeching so loudly. It must have drawn them here, turning this spot into a death trap. She did not know whether the gargantuan Grimm was clever in the end or this was a random chance. It did not matter now, because with her Aura yet to be restored to full strength, she was a dead woman now.

"I'm sorry," she said to herself as she lowered her in defeat as a single tear rolled down her cheek. "I guess I won't be coming home."

Fate, however stranger, had a different opinion as something beneath her feet opened up brightly, revealing to her widened horror some kind of hole made of foreboding chaotic energy. She realized far too late to escape, so she fell down the portal screaming until it closed up. The last thing she heard before she left her world was… laughter?

She was never seen again.

* * *

Adrien started walking forward, but his movement was forced as he took step by step toward the block. This was not how he wanted to go out, and to be killed by the very empire he served under for years shook his resolve and heart. He could have run if he had to. He could have had a better chance surviving long enough to escape this place, but he did not. He was a knight, and a knight must never give-in to the fear of death. Yet this still felt so wrong.

He was finally at the block, the soldier already pulled away the corpse of the headless rebel to make room for the next victim. He stood in front, staring down at the bloody block when the captain's hand shoved him down from behind onto his knees before being pushed all the way down by her armored boot, his head fitting over the shallow groove of it for a perfect chop. He had his head facing to the left, looking up at his executioner as he made ready his axe.

' _Is this how it must be,'_ Adrien thought as the executioner slowly raised his axe. ' _Is this how a warrior must die?'_

As his killer slowly raised his axe up, ready to put an end to his life, he saw something that no one would have expected to see in their lifetime.

"What the… is that an Oblivion Gate?!" General Tullius asked in bewilderment as a portal of dark, chaotic energy, something that would make anyone believe to be a Daedric gate to Oblivion, opened up out of thin air above them, followed by a resounding boom which forced the executioner to stumble and lower his axe. Then suddenly, as the executioner looked up out of surprise, something… no someone dropped out of the portal screaming as she crashed down onto the stunned executioner, knocking him out cold. The captain and the Nord soldier had already backed up away before it happened.

"What is that!?" Asked one of the soldiers, unsure of what to make of the person.

"No questions, weapons ready!" The captain commanded as the soldiers (including the General) pulled out their weapons, with the archers knocking an arrow ready.

"Owww… what was that?" Summer groaned as she struggled to get up. Everyone was stunned but tensed up at the spectacle. Without the boot which kept him down, the knight lifted himself up only a bit as he described what he was looking at. He only caught a glimpse from her fall, but it looked like she was wearing clothes not meant to endure the cold, along with a white cloak. He could only see part of her face, but he could tell her skin was fair, and her hair was dark which seemed to gradate to dark red at the tips. To his visual guess, she looked out of place.

She stood back up, and looked around to see a very unfamiliar setting with unfamiliar faces wearing primitive armor and weapons. To everyone present watching this, they now got to see what she wore under the cloak. She wore a long sleeved black blouse with dark grey trim at the ends of her sleeves, and a black cincher with white lacing, along with a black short skirt with dark grey trim. She also wore black stockings and black belt laced combat boots. She had a belt wrapped around her waist, complete with pouches, with two weapons they barely recognize as war axes and a strange quiver. Just as the knight thought before, her clothes were not meant for the cold weather.

Back to the girl, there would be a time when she would stop and admire the classics, but there was a more pressing matter as everyone had their weapons out and ready. So she tried to defuse the situation as best she could, if only she were not so confused of the situation. Such as where she was.

"Umm… where am I?" She asked rather nervously.

"She's a Daedra worshipper, seize her!" The General barked his order out of suspicion and a hint of paranoia. She tensed up when the two soldiers were running up to her from both sides with their large swords still drawn. So she jumped back and lowered herself as she went for her weapons.

"It's no use," Said the captain with finality in her voice. "There's nowhere to run!"

But she was about to prove the captain wrong when the Nord soldier to her left came too close to her. He tried to grab her arm, believing she was distracted, but the falsely accused Summer reacted (without her weapons) with lightning speed as she grabbed his muscled wrist, yanked him forward with effort (much to her hidden confusion) and kneed him hard in the stomach. For a short girl at 5'5", He was surprised that she was strong enough to knock the wind out of him.

The captain went in to gain control of the situation, raising her sword up in hoping to knock her out with the pommel while the faux Daedra worshipper was focused on the legionnaire, but Summer anticipated the move. She used her feet to climb up on the Nord soldier, kicked him to the ground to give her that short boost as she twisted her body, swung her fist and punched the surprised captain in the face. Though she punched the helmet part of her face, it was enough to disorient her enemy as the captain stumbled.

Summer's hand was in pain to her surprise, but she had to ignore it for later as she yanked the sword from the captain's hand, spun her around to have her back facing her, and the white cloaked girl wrapped her arm around her neck in a chokehold and levelled the blade of the sword to her neck (semi heavy though for some reason), turning the legion captain into a hostage.

"Seriously, just where the hell am I!?" She angrily demanded to everyone present.

Suddenly and out of nowhere, the otherworldly sound returned, now being very close as it turned out to be a roar. The soldiers, the rebels, and even Adrien and the stranger tensed up from the noise. General Tullius looked up as he followed the noise to see a glimpse of something he had never, in his entire career, seen in all of Tamriel, flying in the direction of Helgen.

"What in Oblivion is that!?" The General asked/yelled.

"Sentries! what do your eyes see?" the soldier commanded the sentries with haste while still staring down at the assumed heretic.

"It's in the clouds!" He answered from his observation, and even he could not fathom what he fearfully was seeing. Soon this mysterious beast finally revealed itself as it landed on the tower for everyone to see it in all its terrifying glory. This monster was big, covered in scales so twisted and spiked and as black as night. It's dark, leathery wings lightly clung to the walls of the tower with their hooks for claws. What probably made him the most intimidating was its visage. Its head looked like that if a demon, with its horns grown backwards, bending inwards then out. It's eyes were malevolently red and piercing, as if promising them a painful death.

Summer looked at this thing with incomprehension, believing at first to be a Grimm, but her gut was telling her this may not be. ' _What is that? It looks kind of like—'_

"Dragon!" A female rebel shouted in fear, in answer to everyone's question. Then the black, demonic looking dragon reeled back its neck before it unleashed from it's maw a concussive blast which knocked many to the ground. Many( including the Huntress) were reeling from the pain and the ringing in their ears. Summer had let go of the captain and dropped the sword as she pressed her hands against her ears.

Adrien almost heard nothing but a short ringing in his ears, but what he saw next shocked him and everyone in the town beyond belief. The sky was blanketed with dark clouds swirling above Helgen, and from those clouds, fire rained down upon the town as if Oblivion had come down from the sky.

"Don't just stand there! Kill that thing!" General Tullius shouted to his soldiers after shaking out of his stupor, then he addressed to the town guards. "Guards, get the townspeople to safety!"

Meanwhile, while all this just started to happen right after the dragon made the first blast which brought down fire, the captain got out of her shock and looked towards the supposed Daedra worshipper, seeing her looking up at the darkened, fiery sky with shock. Ignoring the sky, and after hearing the General's orders, she recovered her stolen sword and left the stranger to her fate without a word, believing it would be fitting for her to be killed by a dragon. Unfortunately karma had begged to differ, as the captain did not see the meteor striking right where she stood, leaving nothing behind but flying charred remains. The explosion behind Summer gave enough force to push her down a ways.

But just as the General ordered the guards, the dragon made another concussive blast, and this time the Imperial stumbled about on the dirt. In that instant he decided that living was better than dying of fire, so he tried and struggled to get up as his legs wobbled.

"Hey, Imperial. Get up! Come on, the gods won't give us another chance!" Ralof was crouched down to hopefully avoid the falling fire. He pointed in the direction of the tower where the door was opened for them. At that point the knight quickly got his footing and ran as if his life depended on it, along with the rebel to reach the tower. However he stopped and looked back as he spotted the white cloaked stranger in front of the short tower trying to get up, but acted rather dizzy. He did not wish to meddle with a suspicious stranger who just came out of a Daedric portal from the sky, but then again the legion were being too quick to judge. Setting aside his judgement until later, he went over (even with the explosions of meteors happening all around him) and tried to pull her up from her arm with his bound hands.

"Come on stranger, get up! we need to get inside!"

"No," she answered deliriously as she resisted, "the people are in danger!"

"Forget it," he argued, "the guards and the soldiers will take care them. Now's not the time to throw your life away like this, so come on!"

For a moment she tried to fight back, but relented as she was led to the tower, both of them bravely avoiding the falling fire as they ran.

"Inside! Come on!" Ralof shouted, with Ulfric holding the door for the both of them until they were inside. Then he slammed the door shut as the flying debris hit the door and the tower's walls. Feeling safe for now, the two of them looked around to see what was left of the surviving Stormcloaks. Only two, a Nord woman and man, lied down in pain with scorch marks and bloody wounds as their comrade tended to them.

"Jarl Ulfric! what is that thing? Could the legends be true?" He asked with trepidation.

"Legends don't burn down villages," he answered, he looked around at his situation until he made his orders to his comrades. "We need to move, now!"

"Up through the tower you two, let's go!" He directed the two of them as he ran up the winding stairway, Adrien following behind without protest, but after Summer reoriented herself and her vision…

"Wait a minute," she halted as she turned to the leader of the Stormcloaks staying where he was. "What about you?" This could be the perfect opportunity for a leader such as him to live and fight another day, but the answer he returned surprised her.

"I'm staying with my comrades," Ulfric answered with incredulity. "What kind of leader would I be if I left them to die? We will meet again sooner of later, now go."

"Ulfric always finds a way. Now come on, up the tower!" Being convinced, Summer and Adrien went up the stone worked stairs behind him. They were halfway up the tower when they overheard another Stormcloak.

"We just need to move some of these rocks to clear the way," the male Stormcloak rebel said as he could be heard clearing the rubble out of the way—

The demon dragon bursted it's head through the wall, the debris crashing into the rebel, killing him in an instant from the weight and velocity. The three running up the stairs halted in shock until Ralof yelled for them to get back before the dragon breathed fire into the hole. Luckily the three of them were down far enough where the flames could not reach them. Soon the dragon stopped breathing fire, retracted his claws from the wall and flew away. That was their cue to walk back up the tower, though with some amount of caution until they reach the hole leading outside the tower.

"See the inn on the other side?" Ralof asked as he pointed down to the ruined inn. "Jump through the roof and keep going!

"Go! We'll follow when we can!" Summer was the first to walk up to the edge, looking down at the ruined inn to see a wooden pillar flat enough for her to nimbly land on, but there was a fire building up to its left. So she backed up and got ready.

"Here we go," she said allowed before she ran up to edge and jumped. She landed on the wooden pillar with one boot, then jumped off and landed successfully on the second floor. She turned around to watch the knight get ready, although he looked uncertain knowing he was bound. He took a breath and then jumped off the edge. He landed his feet on the railing of the inn, but then his foot slipped and instead he crashed on his side onto the wood floor. The white cloaked Huntress walked up to him and helped pull him up. After getting up he nodded in appreciation, and before they went anywhere, Summer took out her axe and cut his bindings off.

"Sorry about that," she apologized.

"It's fine," he dismissed before the two continued to the other side of the wrecked building until they heard a commotion.

"Get up." They both hear the voice of a boy in distress as Summer just landed on the first floor without difficulty while Mallus landed with some effort as they were soon outside.

"Haming, get over here." The familiar voice of a certain soldier called out to a boy kneeling over his wounded father. The soldier had his sword out, though he remained where he was a distance away from them. The boy was about to look up when he heard the menacing flapping, and a roar resounding throughout the sky. "Don't look up, just focus on me. You can do it." Still the boy remained where he was with his wounded father, but he did not give up. "Just come towards me."

"Get off the road boy!" Yelled an old man in iron armor as he stayed crouched down behind a pile of burnt wood.

"Get up, Papa, get up!" Hamming argued to help him get up, tears running down his eyes.

"I'm done for little cub," said the wounded father as he clutched his bloodied leg. A shadow loomed over the group watching this, and they looked up in staunch horror what was going to happen. Summer shook out of it and went into getting prepared by quickly pulling out her axes and connected the pommels together. The axe blades were facing her, but she held them away from her as the weapons soon turned into a bow. Adrien saw the development happening with surprise and awe as she took out a collapsible arrow.

' _Is that weapon of Dwemer make,'_ he thought in wonder.

"Go… run for it!" The boy's mind told him to stay by his side, but his heart knew he had to listen.

"Haming, you need to get over here. Now!" The soldier shouted at the boy, trying to coax him to get over to him to safety. He saw Haming stand up, turned about and paced with reluctance to the soldier waiting for him.

"That a boy, you're doing great." He said, but then the dragon landed in front of the boy's father. The earth shook when it landed, causing the boy to stumble to the ground, and he turned around to see the beast in fear. "Torolf!" The soldier called out in horror.

The black dragon reeled back its head, ready to burn the two mortals in front him and let the others watch on in despair, but it did not anticipate an arrow exploding in its face as it impacted, disrupting its momentum. The fiery explosion twisted its head back a bit, and it gave the woman a small window of opportunity to run up to the frozen boy while she reverted her bow back to her axes.

"Come on, there's no time," she said with haste as she picked him up bridal style and ran for safety. The boy struggled but relented, and tears were falling down his cheeks, but he did not dare cry to his father as the distance between them rapidly grew. At least he saw his father smile weakly.

The dragon recovered and saw what was happening, and the act angered it.

"That's it son, make me proud." Torolf said his last words before he was soon engulfed in raging fire.

"Gods… everybody get back!" The soldier ordered as they went to hide behind the wrecked building, just as the dragon unleashed its fire, and the woman making it to the others just in time. The fire soon stopped and the dragon took to the sky to cause more havoc elsewhere upon the town. With the threat gone for now, the soldier looked to the others as he watched the stranger set the boy back down.

"Stranger," He said to her, though he had to raise his voice due to the screams of terror and destruction happening all around them. She stood up from comforting to the boy to look at the soldier. "You were the one who shot that arrow?"

"Yes," she confirmed.

"Thank you for rescuing him."

She nodded in thanks, then he looked to Adrien. "I see you're still alive, prisoner. Just stay close to me if you want to stay that way. You should come too, stranger, and… wait, where is your bow?" His eyes searched for the bowstring and even the bow itself, but...

"I've stored it away." She shrugged as she tapped on her bearded axes.

' _Perhaps Dwemer? No, now's not the time,'_ he shoved whatever questions he had to the back of his mind for later when they were safe.

"You should bring back your bow, and keep an arrow ready just in case." Then he looked to the old man crouching next to Haming. "Gunnar, take care of the boy. I have to find General Tullius and join their defense."

"Gods guide you two," said Gunnar, referring to both Hadvar and Summer.

The trio went out from behind the ruined structure as she made her bow again, running past the now charred corpse of Torolf. The sight of his charred body made the Huntress feel sick to her stomach with guilt and revulsion.

"Stay close to the wall!" The soldier advised as they reached what remains of a burned ramp and jumped down, but right when they did, the dragon was back as it landed on the wall, just right above the trio. They did not dare say anything, and neither did she dare to shoot the dragon from underneath lest she had a deathwish. The dragon unleashed his fire upon the unlucky legionnaire, and luckily it did not notice them as it then flew off.

"Quickly, follow me!" He said as they followed him up the ramp past the charred soldier. They went through the short passage of a torn building until they reached what was believed to be the town square. What Summer saw with her own eyes both amazed and confused her as she witnessed these two soldiers wearing hoods and casting… fire from their hands. She thought at first that they had a device in their hands to cast fire Dust, but the further she observed, it turned out they did not. There were, however, a few civilians on the ground mortally wounded. She was tempted in wanting to stay and help, but she kept following the two as her mind wandered.

' _Just where on Remnant am I,'_ she wondered.

"Just how much does it take to kill this thing?!" One of the soldiers shouted with complaint as they kept firing their arrows at the flying beast, only for the arrows to bounce off its scaly hide. From among the soldiers stood the General leading his men to desperately keep the beast distracted. Sadly, things had been going south for the legion and guards, and the civilians were being devastated by the dragon's wrath.

"Hadvar!" The General yelled after seeing him along with two other faces. "Into the keep, soldier, we're leaving!"

"It's just us now, you two. Stay close!" Hadvar guided them away from the battle, but out of complete surprise… the dragon spoke.

" **Hin sil fen nahkip bahloki."** The dragon spoke in a baritonal, guttural voice, and his language was unlike anything anyone had ever heard. The three did not stop in their tracks as they ran closer to the keep. Once Hadvar reached the door, he opened it and frantically gestured them in.

"Through here. Let's go!" He said. The Imperial was the first to go through, but Summer stayed put as she leveled her bow and readied her arrow. "Lady, what are you—

She released the arrow at the dragon before she went inside, believing that her lightning Dust arrow would do some damage, but sadly she did not realize that not even those did any harm to the black monster.

* * *

 **A/N: And here is my first chapter to what I believe will be quite a huge story. Although this chapter is rather short, but I do plan to add much more knowing this game.**

 **You know, I was gonna say Summer Rose being sent to Skyrim in a RWBYxSkyrim crossover for the first time, but someone else had beaten me to it. Anyways, for now this is just the beginning of her adventure after her fight with the Wendigo, and I hope I did the fighting some good. I know that fully trained hunters are like OP superheroes, and I know she should have used her silver eyes to kill it quickly, but then it would not have been thrilling. As for the Dragonborn, i'm certain there may be a few fanfics that have the Imperial as a main character, although I mostly saw Khajiits, argonians, Nords and what not taking up most of it. It will be interesting to see where this Cyrodiilic knight is going to go from then on, if he still follows the path of the knight after this.**

 **This story may take years to finish, but I still got the spirit to push forward with this until it's finished. But I am also still writing Bloodborne Twin, so the publishing of chapters will take even longer to finish, so please bear with me.**

 **This is Kyro2009, signing off.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Unbound and out of nowhere, part 2

 **Update A/N: just made an update to this chapter where I realized I missed one detail in Riverwood. For those who have already read this chapter, I hope it is to your liking. Plus, I forgot to put this in.**

Skyrim belongs to Bethesda Softworks, and RWBY belongs to Roosterteeth and the late great Monty Oum.

They were safe inside in light states of exhaustion, still striking her as unusual. The room they had come into was a barracks, complete with rows of beds on either side with chests in front of each one, and with cabinets and drawers, along parts of the torchlit walls and candles which kept the darkness at bay.

"That was close," Adrien stated as he laid against the stone wall.

Hadvar looked around, then said quietly: "Looks like we're the only ones who made it." Then he added, unsettled: "Was that really a dragon? The bringers of the End Times?"

"It did look like a dragon all right," Adrien breathed as he straightened out, "but to me it looked like a demon."

"I was thinking the same thing at first," she joined in.

"Well, in any case, we should keep moving." The other two could only agree to the soldier's suggestion. Then Hadvar turned to the bound knight, only to realize that his bindings were cut off, probably with help no doubt.

"Take a look around, there should be plenty of gear to choose from," he suggested, then eyed disagreeably the burns on his arms and legs. Cuts and bruises were one thing, something life on the Legion had taught him to deal with, but burns were something altogether. "I'm going to see if I can find something for these burns."

Adrien was about to start ruffling on the chests. "Alright… there ought to be something for you too, miss… miss…" He turned towards the woman. "I don't think we've asked your name."

"My name is Summer Rose," she introduced herself. "And you guys?"

"My name is Adrien Artorius."

"Hadvar Indridasson."

"Well, it's nice to meet all of you. Although I was hoping under better circumstances." She directed her last sentence at Hadvar.

"I'm sorry," he replied. "Tensions had been rather high and having a portal come out of nowhere had us guessing. I was just following orders."

"I guess I understand, and I'd rather have it behind us now."

"That's good. By the way, if I may ask… Are you really a Daedra worshipper?"

She looked at him oddly. "What's a Daedra?"

Although it did not sort of answer the question, the whole room suddenly went silent. The two males looked at her rather strangely.

"You just came out of a Daedric portal," Adrien spoke up. "And you're telling us you don't know what a Daedra is?"

"First time I heard the word was right now, just out of your mouths," she answered dryly.

Coming from someone who had freshly walked out of a Daedric gate, Hadvar could believe those words just as readily as those from someone claiming to have a bridge to sell, but then the dragon/demon outside let out a powerful roar and the floor quivered. Dust spattered down from cracks on the ceiling. He gave the stranger one last distrustful look: "Much as I want to know more, I want to keep on living more still. Let us hurry and leave this place."

Adrien grunted his approval. "Good point." He walked up to a chest on the far end of the barracks and opened it. He managed not to grimace in disgust. The best that could be said about the armor was that it had been kept in decent condition by its previous owner, which was only logical considering how maniacal the Legion was on teaching legionnaires to care for their gear. But that was pretty much it. Worse still, he could see it would not fit him terribly well. The boots were as basic and uncomfortable looking. ' _Oh well, better than nothing, I guess. Beats looking like a prisoner anytime.'_

Summer was tending to the twin axes her bow had reverted back to when she heard the noise. She turned around to see Adrien taking off the ragged clothes he had worn as a prisoner, and quickly turned around again, assuming he wanted the decency of not being watched. She did, however, get a glimpse in of what he was made of. Scars criss crossed him, so many of them he looked like he had been sewn together by mad demons with diamond-hard claws, but that only added to the savage, animal charm of his muscular body, otherwise in perfect shape. It was a visage to make the shyest maiden wanton, and her own cheeks blushed brightly red upon seeing it, but she shook the image out of her head, reminding herself that she was married and had made a promise to keep her vows no matter the situation.

Adrien did not notice Summer's peeking or blushing. Besides the armor and boots, the sole items on the chest were a key, presumably for the keep gate given its coarse and simple shape, and a brown, empty leather satchel. Said satchel he slung over his back, and the key he put inside it; that done, he went to the weapon rack and took the only blade available, an iron sword. He hefted it with distaste etched on his face. ' _How can they even call this a sword?'_

Summer saw this and looked on attentively. The sword was crude — no, that would be unfair. 'Simple' was the proper word, as it was made entirely out of iron, from the pommel to the tip of the blade. It looked decent enough in both craftsmanship and flexibility, but raw iron was not going to make for a very durable weapon; for starters, it could not hold a candle to steel weapons, like Hadvar's sword for instance. What made her frown more was its lack of a scabbard, if she could even call it that. It was simply pieces of leather straps acting as a sheath, completely exposing the iron sword to the elements.

' _Come to think of it,'_ she thought, ' _Hadvar's sword looks rather—'_

"Shouldn't you be wearing armor, Summer?" The soldier asked as he walked up to her, being done with putting the salve on his burns, a round shield strapped to his left arm. She was broken out of her observation when she heard him.

"I'm fine without them," she dismissed as she smirked and strutted her stuff, "and besides, I've always worn this for battle against monsters."

"Don't say I didn't warn you," he sighed, not having the time to argue with her when the danger was still looming above them. "So, if we're done then, let's get moving." The wooden portcullis out of the barracks had no lock; instead, a lever was set into the wall next to it. This lever Hadvar pulled, and the portcullis slid upwards to the sounds of strained wood and ropes. A hallway lay beyond it, and they walked through it without a word.

The hallway led to another room, this time a large hall with another portcullis blocking the way, and another wooden lever set on the left wall. As they came closer, the three heard a voice of someone from around the archway. He suddenly went silent as they grew closer, indicating that whoever he was had already heard them coming.

"Be careful, it could be anyone," he cautioned almost to a whisper as he walked up to pull down the lever, his sword at the ready in his hand. Again the portcullis slid upwards, and Hadvar took the lead with caution.

Caution that served him in good stead: someone bellowed a warcry, giving him just enough of a warning to raise his shield before the blade of the war axe found his head. Hadvar absorbed the blow, then put his shoulder behind the shield and thrusted forward, shoving the attacker backwards and allowing him a look at who he was:

"Ralof, you damn traitor!" He accused. "What are you doing here?!"

"I went in here, believing the Imperial and the stranger would come here," he spat. "We're going to be escaping, Hadvar. You're not stopping us this time." He quickly glanced at the two, mainly the recognizable imperial standing next to her. "I see you made it—Wait…" he stopped in his tracks. "Why are you wearing a legion uniform?"

"When it's the only thing you got…," he made to explain, but was then cut off.

"You...," He seethed at this betrayal as his anger grew, "You joined them even though they tried to kill you?! Damn imperials; always so blindly loyal to their slave masters in the end! I'LL KILL YOU!" He charged at the Imperial with rage, only to have Hadvar parry his attack.

"We. are not. SLAVES!" He shoved the rebel back, and the two soon clashed in what Summer and Adrien knew would be a fight to a bitter death.

"You sent that damn dragon to free Ulfric and kill everyone else, didn't you!?" Hadvar accused as he swung his sword at him, but Ralof ducked under the blade and seized the opening in the legionnaire's defenses to punch him in the face.

"That monster killed more of my comrades than it did you, you bastard!" he shot back. The Stormcloak hacked at him with his axe, but Hadvar dropped the shield, grabbed his wrist and shoved him back with a kick.

Summer and Adrien exchanged a glance. The woman was thoroughly lost, but just letting them go at it would not fix anything and they both knew it. The man gave her a brief nod, and they reached for the combatants, which were now struggling in a deadlock against each other. Adrien shoved and pulled Hadvar away, and when the berserk Ralof made to swing his axe at them both he got elbowed in the gut hard by the short woman first, then forced away by a deceptively powerful kick. Neither took to the interruption kindly:

"What are you doing?! Get out of my way!" Hadvar argued as he struggled to push Adrien out of the way, but it turned out he was stronger than he once thought.

"Step aside you little brat!" Ralof shouted angrily, struggling with the woman. Summer could not keep him at bay for long, the man larger and stronger than her…

"ENOUGH!" Adrien boomed, powerfully enough to startle everyone. That had the desired effect. Harshly he berated them: "We all just survived a dragon attack and now you two are back to killing each other?!"

"This was all their fault from the start!" Ralof argued.

"I don't care whose fault it is, and neither does that dragon! We saw that monster burning up the whole town. I saw soldiers on both sides, even innocent people being burned alive by that thing! So do you really think it gave a damn about whose side you're on?!"

"He's right," said Summer as she looked up at the Nord. "If you two start trying to kill each other now, you'll just be doing the dragon's job! So would you drop the fighting…? Please?" She pleaded as she gave him the infamous puppy dog eyes, and yet again this trick worked.

"Alright… you two made your point," he said after he sighed.

"...Well, I'm willing to agree to a truce," Hadvar offered rather hesitantly after reluctantly calming down and putting his sword away. "Agreed, Ralof?"

After looking at his enemy for a moment, he relented. "Fine then. Until we reach Riverwood."

"Sounds good to me." He said evenly.

Adrien let out a breath he was holding in, relieved that they had come to a peaceful agreement. The sound of the dragon above them brought them back to the task of escaping.

"Right, we should get moving." Hadvar stated after recovering his shield as he soon went for the iron door as they followed behind. "Let's see if I can open this." He checked to see if it was locked, and to his small surprise it was not. They all followed in behind him and formed a loose knit group as they traversed through the short hall and down the winding steps. Once they reached the next floor and turned around a corridor, there was a long, dimly lit hallway with a nearby door to their left. They only took a few steps, however, when they heard the roar of the dragon again and the ceiling violently collapsed in front of them, causing an earthquake and blowing dust.

"Look out!" Yelled Ralof as everyone shook and stumbled back from the rough vibration, and Summer was the only one who fell to the floor on her behind. She got back up coughing as the rest recovered from the after shock.

"That dragon doesn't give up easy, does it," Hadvar commented.

"Let's go through there," Ralof pointed towards the door which luckily had not been blocked by the rubble. "I saw a door on the other side. Let's hope it's clear."

They followed Ralof to the door, and opening it revealed to them an old storeroom. The room was lit well enough, torches still burning, tables, chairs and storage cabinets lining one side.. On the other, the room had rows of barrels along the wall, and wooden boxes were stacked on top of each other, as well as being stacked on top of wooden racks.

"An old storeroom," stated Hadvar. "There may be potions in here we can use. Let's see if we can find any."

"While you all do that, I'll be checking the pantry," Ralof said as he went. They all broke off into different parts of the room. Hadvar, Summer and Adrien went to check on the barrels, boxes, and even the cabinets for any potions while Ralof went about checking for food supplies for the journey. Summer was the first to spot two potions of different colors on the cabinet shelves and showed them to Hadvar.

"Are these it," she asked curiously.

"Yes," he answered. "The blue vial is a magicka potion, and the red vial is a healing potion. Looking at the size of them, they're minor."

Summer looked at the bottles in her hands and wondered. These names sounded oddly familiar, like from an old role playing game she once played with a couple of her childhood friends a long time ago. But this could not be anything like a game… could it? Putting the thought aside, she stored the minor magicka and healing potion inside her travel pack hidden under her cloak.

After scrounging up what they could, they gathered around a candle lit table to show their findings. Laid out on the table were five minor healing potions, two minor stamina potions, one minor magicka potion, and the rest were ingredients and food.

"Hmm," Hadvar hummed in thought before coming to an idea in dividing the spoils. "Okay. Nearly each of us should have one healing potion. Ralof and I will have the stamina potion, and Summer should carry the magicka potion, and an extra healing potion just in case."

"Why should I carry the magicka potion?" she asked, "I'm no magician."

"We know that, and neither are we," Ralof pointed out, "but it wouldn't hurt to sell it for a bit of coin, you know."

"If I recall, you did send an arrow exploding in that dragon's face," Hadvar commented.

"That wasn't magic, that was Fire Dust," she corrected.

"Fire Dust?" The men all furrowed their brows in confusion, but Hadvar shook his head of the thought for now knowing their current situation. "Perhaps another time."

"Anyways," Ralof spoke, "I'll just carry the rest of the food supply."

"Fine by me." He shrugged. After that they all gathered their divided spoils, and stood prepared for what would come after.

"Looks like that's it here. Let's get moving then." Hadvar and the group went to the door on the other side of the storeroom. Upon opening it, they were luckily spared the grief of having to dig their way through, seeing the entrance to the Hall was not blocked off by the rubble. The end of the hall led them to another set of stairs leading down. When they eventually took a turn around the corridor to the next set of stairs, they all could see at the end of the stairs a cage meant for people, and a wall shackle holding a human skeleton.

"God's Blood, a torture room," Ralof breathed.

"Gods, I wish we didn't need these," Hadvar grimaced.

Hearing the word torture room made Adrien and Summer feel uneasy, but they did not have much choice as they all proceeded to head down the rest of the way. It was just as Ralof said, and to what Adrien imagined, the room had man sized cages and ramshackles along the walls, and all that was clearly shown under the torchlight. To his hidden surprise, and also to their horror, they were not the only ones here.

"Well now, it looks like the General has brought me more guests for me to entertain. How thoughtful." An old man at the other side of the room vocally revealed himself in a sinister tone. The group had somewhat of a mixed expression to him, but all in all, they all disliked the man the moment he spoke.

"I did not bring these three here for your amusement," Hadvar defended. "We're getting out of here, a dragon is attacking Helgen."

"A dragon," he scoffed, "don't make such nonsense. Although come to think of it, I did hear some odd noises coming from over there."

"It's true," Adrien spoke. "A dragon is attacking the keep as we speak. Why not come with us, we can keep you both safe."

"You have no authority over me, boy." He rejected.

"Didn't you hear us? We said the keep is under attack!" Hadvar argued.

"Come on, Hadvar," said Ralof, "let's just leave the old man alone."

"What makes you think you're going anywhere, _Stormcloak_?" The torturer questioned as he made ready a shock spell in his hand. The action made all present company tense up and grab their weapons.

"I think you're forgetting you're outnumbered here," Summer said evenly as she lowered her posture and her hands were wrapped around the hafts of her axes, ready to pounce at him if it came to that.

Tense stares were exchanged as everyone evaluated the opposition and the likely outcomes. "Come on, old man, just forget it and let them go," the burly assistant reasoned with him. The torturer ignored him at first, but knowing that he and his assistant was not trained in dealing with armed intruders, he reluctantly canceled his spell. Then the assistant looked at the company. "Even if the keep is under attack, we'll be fine where we are."

Hadvar sighed not in relief but in pity for the poor sods. Summer, in turn, was grateful that no blood had been spilled. Ralof on the other hand felt a little disappointed. She straightened herself back up and looked about when she spotted something in the darkened cage.

"Hold on, there's something in this cage?" She asked as she walked up to the cage, only to reveal to her horror that it was a corpse.

"Don't bother with that," the torturer dismissed. "Lost the key ages ago. Poor fellow screamed for weeks."

Summer turned on him with a disgusted glare, but the old man was unperturbed.

"Summer, do you know how to use lockpicks?" Hadvar asked and got her attention as he went to the cage.

She shook her head. "No, I don't."

"I do," Adrien offered.

"Here, I've carried my own." Ralof scrimmaged through his pack and handed his twelve lockpicks to him, merely just to quietly spite Hadvar. "See if you can get it open. You're going to need that gold when we get out."

"Sure, take all my things, please," the torturer said sarcastically. Adrien ignored him and accepted them, and kneeled down in front of the cage lock as he got to work. After fiddling with the lock for a short bit, he turned the key hole and heard the successful click of the lock being undone. He took the picks out and slid them in his pocket, then he got up and opened the cage as he went inside. Before he started looting, however, he knelt down in front of the dead mage, clasped his hands and bowed his head, muttering in prayer.

The two Nords did not make to argue with him, and they understood the reason, even with the threat of danger looming above them. Though Summer could barely hear him, his prayers sounded almost foreign to her, but the chant had its similarity to the prayers of passing she heard back home. She had never heard of this god called "Arkay", but she did not have to guess that he may be the god of the afterlife. It bothered her that he was going to be looting a corpse, but she stayed silent about it.

His prayers done, he went in and looted all the items lying next to him. All that he acquired were twenty eight Septims, two minor magicka potions, and a Sparks spell tome. He did not bother with whatever the mage had in his pockets.

"Is that everything?" Hadvar asked when Adrien walked out of the cage. The knight nodded to him that it was. "Okay, let's get moving."

They followed the soldier to what once could be called a door was now a crumbling hole in the wall. Before they passed through, however, there was something off the corner of her eyes to see a black book laying on a short stool, along with a satchel and a dagger. She picked it up and read the title called "The Book of the Dragonborn". She thought of asking the torturer if she could borrow it, but she realized she may not have enough room in her pack to store the book. So she placed the book back onto the short stool and ran into the hole to catch up to her comrades. Through the hole revealed a brazier lit hall lined with rusty dungeon cells.

"There's no going that way." The torturer told them, but they all ignored him.

They went down the darkened path and around the corridor, they soon all were then in a large hall lined with rusty cages. Some were still hanging from the ceiling, the rest were on the cold damp floor. Within most of them, prisoners lay trapped inside, but what was ghastly was that all were dead. There were a few skeletons still trapped inside the cages long after death took them, giving this place a musty, rotten odor which gave Summer a disgusted expression, and at the same time a foreboding feeling. The others were not bothered by this, or were not showing it as they walked on through, even as they walked past a dead Stormcloak in rags, much to Ralof's quiet resentment.

Eventually, after going through another corridor path, they had this time come into a natural cave, dimly lit with a few wall torches and with a natural light shining down through a hole in the cave ceiling to illuminate the room. There were two options to take: either they follow the bridge path along the wall or take the shortcut through the natural cave creek. They simply decided to take the path along the wall, and eventually they made to a short path to a draw bridge.

Meanwhile, ever since the group had been traversing through the keep without much incident, Summer's mind wandered, though it felt like it was going a million miles. Ever since she fell to this strange location, her eyes had been subjected to things both terrible and mostly bizarre. These people looked out of date and dirtied, their weapons, armor, and architecture were primitive compared to her tech. Then there were the strange concoctions these people drink. Magicka potions? Stamina potions? Healing potions? Then there was that honest to Gods dragon (if she were to even call him that) currently attacking the town above them. And last but not least, there were people using magic. Magic! That was something she would never believe but it happened right in front of her face. With everything she had seen so far, she felt as if she were in some sort of fantasy game, but this all looked and felt too real to be fake. Which brings her to the one thing which had been bothering her the most; it was the pain.

Sure, she could feel pain like everyone else could, but the damage she physically felt would have been gone the moment she felt it thanks to her Aura. The pain she felt when she defended herself from Hadvar and the Captain strangely lingered longer than it should have, and when she was running alongside the survivors, she almost felt tired. Something was wrong, very wrong. Either her Aura was not functioning properly or…

"Let's see where this leads to." Her thoughts were interrupted again when Hadvar walked up to a lever on the old stone floor. He leaned down, and with both hands he cranked it forward. There was the sound of a click and the wooden drawbridge fell forward, connecting to the other side and allowing them passage. The bridge was shown by a light shining down from a large hole from above. There would have to be another time for her to think on this as the need to keep the group alive took priority over her own concerns.

They all power-walked across the bridge, and once they were all on the other side and into a more natural and dark cave than previously, they heard the roar of the dragon, and a large piece of rubble fell from above an opening and smashed the flimsy bridge to pieces. They all looked back at the destroyed bridge, and were all having the feeling that the rubble was meant for them.

"Well, there's no going back that way," Ralof commented.

"We should consider ourselves lucky that it didn't come down on top of us," said Hadvar to some relief.

"I agree," said Summer.

Meanwhile, Adrien looked about the cavern around him until his eyes followed the cave creek down a dark passage, all while listening to the two veterans. "Let's see where this leads to." They all looked to where he pointed, seeing the stream run down through an entrance, and they all followed the small stream, being able to see it yet barely, thinking it would lead them to the exit. What Summer noticed was a skeleton lying near the passage, and it gave her a feeling that he died of starvation, or something dangerous lurked in these caves. The skeleton had an iron dagger, a coin purse, and a minor healing potion. Adrien noticed them as well, and kneeled down and prayed as he picked the potion and coin purse into his pack. The act still unnerved her, though she understood the politeness.

The two caught up to the others, and the little bit of hope faltered when they were halted by tangled rocks blocking their path as the creek made a small waterfall from it.

"Hmm. That doesn't go anywhere." The Nord rebel hummed in disappointment.

"Let's see where this leads to." They all saw the other cavern which Summer pointed. They walked down the cavern, hoping that this would be a detour to the exit, but as they went further down, there were spiderwebs stuck to the edges of the passageway, and they looked thick to Summer's observation. Again, something did not feel right with her. Spiders do not produce this much webbing, and the foreboding feeling grew as they went further.

"I've got a bad feeling about this." Said Summer with concern.

"Please don't jinx it." Ralof advised, sounding a little tensed up at the sight of webbing all around him.

Eventually through the dark cavern, they came upon a large, naturally columned, open room with so much webbing and large egg sacks visibly everywhere. The lighting from the end of the cave gave merely enough illumination for them to see there were bodies wrapped up in webbing, from a large rat to a full grown human (to her growing dread), but everything felt uneasily quiet. And since the spiders made these webs, where did they go?

"Tread with caution now," Ralof muttered slowly to the group as he slowly brought out his twin axes, prompting the others to pull out their weapons as they treaded lightly into the large room. Summer had her axes close to each other, ready to transform them into a bow in case whatever made these webs came out of the shadows. Hadvar and Adrien kept their swords and shield close to their bodies, and Ralof had his hands holding onto the halfway point of the shafts.

They soon halted when they heard movement, but it was faint and jittery, along with scratches and clicking sounds. The ruckus was coming from all around, the echoes bouncing off of every surface. The whole group stood close, their hands gripping their weapons more tightly. Summer focused on listening in, trying to pinpoint where the sound was coming from. When she looked up, her eyes went wide with horror by the size of a large arachnid, slowly coming down from the blackness of the cave ceiling. It was the size of a dog, with its body and eight legged endoskeleton having spikes. It was right above the unassuming Ralof, and she reacted quickly.

"Above us!" She shouted as she clanged the axes together, getting her bow ready and pulling out her Dust arrow in one fluid motion as she knocked the arrow, pulled it back and released it. Ralof instinctively ducked and the fire Dust arrow explosively pierced through its shell, killing it and sending the large, burning bug to the other side of the room. The brief flash illuminated the ceiling, revealing two arachnids, larger than the other one, hiding from above as they then started dangling down to attack.

"Frostbite spiders!" Ralof called them. "Stay away from the webbing, and don't get bitten!" They all got ready to fight them. It was four against two large spiders, but all that suddenly changed when the dog sized ones started crawling from the shadows and down the walls. Suddenly one of the small ones shot out a glob of venom at Adrien, and the knight dodged the projectile. The two large spiders were now on the ground, grabbing the knight's and Hadvar's attention as they battled out, leaving Ralof and Summer to deal with the smaller ones.

Summer started shooting at the small ones, explosively killing and burning them one by one as she dodged a few venomous projectiles of their own. But then, one of them got close and leaped out at her right flank. She anticipated the attack, moved to the side and pierced its underside mid-air with the tip of her bladed bow, then tossed it aside and turned her bow back into axes to join the melee, seeing that shooting at close quarters was no longer an option.

Ralof struck one down with his iron war axe, and then proceeded to split the next one's head open. The small arachnid tried to get him from behind and pounced upon him, but he spun around and swiped it aside, then he growled and stomped on it repeatedly with such fury and hate for them that its outer layer caved-in in a bloody mess.

Meanwhile, Hadvar and Adrien were struggling to take down the large ones. Right as the two large spiders landed, the creatures immediately went on the offensive.

Hadvar was blocking and parrying away the spider's serrated front legs, and even blocking a strike and shoving it away while being pushed back. But then, instead of trying to attack him with its front legs again, it went in to stab him with its venomous fangs. Hadvar took the slim opportunity and sliced at one of its fangs, making it screech and back away. It was distracted by its pain, and the soldier took another chance to charge at the spider with his imperial sword levelled, aiming for its softer weak point. The spider saw this coming and attempted to retaliate, but was too late and instead got stuck through its mouth and stabbed in the brain. The spider spasmed and struggled, but then it went limp and was no more as he pulled out his sword.

Adrien had killed spiders before when they were smaller than his boot, but this was something he had no experience in dealing with after all his time as a former member of the Fighter's Guild, and as a knight. Yet his combat experience had given him an edge as he shifted left from an incoming pedipalp and made a cut at its leg. Its endoskeleton was not as tough as he thought seeing the bloodied severed limb. It made a short, clicking yelp of pain as it backed up and retaliated with another strike with its pedipalp, but he parried that and made a heavy downward slice at its fang. Its surface was softer than he thought when his blade cut deep, and the spider screeched in pain as it backed away again.

He was getting the hang of this, but that confidence faltered when the spider went at him in desperation to kill him. He did not have time to attack, and instead he dropped his sword, grabbed at the fangs (despite the spikes) which attempted to stab him and held them back as hard as he could. The arachnid was unexpectedly strong, and the spider pummeled him bloody with its front legs to weaken him. He still held firm and ignored the pain, but the arachnid still tried to bring him down. Then a moment of brilliance had come to him, so he used his strength to push it back but tried to make it stand up. Once its underside was shown to him, he kicked it in the center hard while letting go of the fangs, and the spider was then laying on its back and struggling to get up.

Adrien did not let it have a chance as he grabbed his iron sword and went to work cutting away at one side of its legs. It clicked and screeched in pain, and its endoskeletal legs were being chopped away into a bloody mess as the ichorous blood was spattering on him. It finally used the momentum of its intact legs to realign itself, but it was stopped by one hand holding back one of its legs. With the legs no longer there to block him, and the front legs trying but failing to reach out and hit him, he then proceeded to stab it in the center a few times before the creature finally stopped struggling.

It was after Summer took down one last small spider did the skirmish finally end, and everyone took a moment to breathe and collect themselves. Adrien wasted no time as he took out his minor healing potion and drank it down. His body glowed with light dancing around him as his wounds were being magically sewed and bruises becoming nonexistent. Summer watched this happen in front of her eyes, leaving her amazed by what a small bottle could do, and it almost made her forget about the horrifying situation she and the group just went through. Plus she did not realize she had splotches of spider blood on her black attire and on her white cloak, and also dripping from her axes.

"I'd prefer them to be smaller," the knight commented as he put the empty bottle back in his pack. "How in the world did they get this big?"

"They always were...," said Hadvar. "They're a loathsome nuisance native to Skyrim."

"Yeah, well tiny spiders were creepy enough as it is." Summer complained as she shivered and crossed her arms, rubbing against one arm to try and comfort herself. "Now they're even more terrifying! I can't stand creepy crawlies!"

"I'm with you," said Ralof, "even I can't stand the sight of those things. Too many eyes, you see."

"Then let's not linger here anymore," Hadvar suggested as he sheathed his bloody sword, "I'd rather not wait to see if there are more coming."

"I totally agree." Said Summer, and the group followed down the next passage. Next to the cavern was a single lit torch, and next to it was another minor healing potion and a rusted iron dagger. Hadvar grabbed the potion and dagger and stuffed it into his pack while putting the latter away at his belt. They eventually went into another area of the cave, complete with a creek running under the ridge to their right. There was an abandoned hand-cart up ahead to the groups confusion. There was a wooden bow and a quiver of arrows laying against it. Ralof inspected the cargo further when they reached it, containing bottles of aged wine, as well as a large coin purse. No one would know why it was here in this cave, but the rebel had no problem about it whatsoever. What he did not realize was that they were not alone.

"Don't mind if I take–"

"Hold up!" Hadvar whispered loudly to the group while pulling Ralof down to a crouch. The other two did the same, wondering what was going on.

"What is it now, Hadvar?" Ralof asked in a whisper with annoyance.

"Look," he pointed to the other side of the cave. "There's a bear just up ahead." Indeed there was a bear, but this was a cave bear. Cave bears are larger and meaner than their cousins living outside, and their savage strength can tear a man limb from limb more easily.

"Seriously? There are four of us here. I'm sure we can all take on a bear." He remarked with a narrow look.

"Well I'd rather not tangle with her right now."

"Oh come on, have a spine will you?!" He insulted. He looked to the bow, and an idea popped up in his head then turned to the imperial. "Hey Imperial, why don't you use this bow. Might surprise her, though."

Adrien looked at the bow for a bit, but decided to shake his head no. He did not want to offend Kynareth at this hour. "I don't feel like killing an animal this time. And besides, I'm no good with a bow."

Ralof turned to Summer with the same offer wordlessly, but she shook her head as well. "I hunt monsters, not animals."

The rebel sighed in resignation, and turned back to the soldier. "You want this bow? I don't like using them."

"Sure, I'll take it," he took the bow and slung it over his back, and strapped the quiver to his back as well.

Ralof whispered to the group: "Well, what do you all suggest we do?"

"I say we sneak by," Adrien suggested, "But we'll have to stay close to the wall, take it nice and slow and watch our step."

"I agree with him," Summer acknowledged.

Hadvar nodded. "Go on. We'll follow your lead and watch your back."

Adrien, while still crouched down, got to the front and led the way. He stayed close to cave wall, going slowly and carefully not to cause any noise. They went in a line, with Hadvar and Ralof following behind him, while Summer came in from the back. They all had to hold their weapons above the ground so as to not drag them against the cave floor, putting a small bit of strain on their muscles. Things were going somewhat smoothly, but then Ralof stepped on something which caused a crunching sound. The group stopped in their tracks, and turned to see– to their small dread– that the bear was shifting. They stayed so still, holding their breath when they saw the bear simply laying to the side, showing her back to them. They quietly breathed out a sigh of relief and continued forward. It was only until after they got passed a pile of bones did they start getting up one by one.

"That was close," said Hadvar.

They all agreed and walked on through the wide, dark cavern. Down and up, and eventually around the corner, they all finally saw the light at the end of the cave that they had hoped to run into.

"That looks like the way out! I knew we'd make it!" Ralof said with relief.

They then decided to just jog the rest of the way into the light, not wanting to wait any longer. Summer was the last one out of the tunnel, and was blinded by the sunlight at first, but her vision had quickly cleared to see… the most breathtaking sight she and Adrien had ever seen. There were snow capped mountains as majestic as the other dotting the view, with the coniferous trees, shrubbery and rocks being everywhere, even below the mountains. The ground before them was covered in snow, making Summer feel a little chilled the instant the feeling hit her. she could practically see her breath as she rubbed her arms for warmth. Other than that, the view made it look worthy of a painting.

"Wait!" Hadvar said out loud when they started hearing the telltale flapping sound of wings coming over them. Hadvar and Ralof ran and crouched behind a boulder while Adrien and Summer hid behind a tree. The black dragon flew over them, seemingly disinterested in finding survivors after being done with the town, to flying off to who knows where. "Looks like he's gone for good this time." He said as he got up. "But I don't think we should stick around to see if he comes back."

"You and me both, Hadvar." Ralof mused after they all got up out of hiding.

"So where is this Riverwood you mentioned?" Adrien asked them as they gathered around.

"It's the closest town from here. Just down this hill and to the right along the river. My uncle's the blacksmith there. I'm sure he'll help us out."

"I'll be going to see Gerdur and tell her what's happened. She owns and works the sawmill."

"Well, you both know this province better than I do, so I think it would be best if we did not split up for now."

"You make a good point. Follow us then." And so, the group of survivors plus the Huntress walked down the natural dirt path down the snowy, forest covered hill and away from the cave. Hadvar and Ralof walked at the front while the two others followed behind. The group stayed quiet for a short while, and the knight could not help but feel there was still tension in the air between the two soldiers, but he still felt relief that they were honor-bound to keep their promise to reach the town instead of backstabbing each other at the opportune moment. They were just halfway down the hill when the rebel began to slow down to be beside them.

"Say, I don't think I've gotten your names." Ralof said as he kept pace with them.

"I'm Ser Adrien Artorius."

"And I'm Summer Rose."

"Oh, quite an exotically beautiful name for a cute lass such as yourself." He flirted.

"Hey now, I'm already taken so don't get any ideas." She musedly warned.

"I see. I-I apologize, I didn't know you were married."

"That's why you need to ask first before flirting, Ralof!" Hadvar suggested mockingly yet sternly.

"What, I can't help but know a pretty face when I see one!" He defended. "And haven't you made your move on that girl in Whiterun yet?"

"That's my business, not yours!" She chuckled softly at their banter. "Speaking of which, I think it's time I started asking you some questions Summer."

"Alright, go ahead."

"It's about your weapons. I saw you change them into a bow once or twice. Did you find them somewhere in a Dwemer ruin or as a Daedric artifact?"

"No," she shook her head at the strange question, "I made them myself."

"For real?!" Ralof asked with surprise of her enginuity. "Then you must be a master craftsman!"

"Oh come on, it's nothing." She replied sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her cloaked head, but again she caught word of the same name, but she also heard Dwemer, which confused her. "But really, you just said Daedra again. I'm starting to think that maybe they're your version of demons or something. And also, what's a Dwemer? Are they some kind of… advanced civilization?"

Ralof and the others stopped in their tracks and turned to look at her, as if she had been living under a rock, until Hadvar answered for her. "They were, but they vanished a very long time ago. The only things they left behind are ruins."

Ralof spoke again with the same thought as the others before. "Hold on, we all just saw you falling from a Daedric portal, right? I'm rather shocked you never saw one."

"Like I said, I never heard of them up until today." She answered with little annoyance.

"How can you not? They're all common knowledge in most of Tamriel. Are you even from High Rock?"

"No, I'm not from this so called 'High Rock'. Is that a name of some mountain range or something? And besides, isn't this Sanus?" She asked as she looked at all three of them for confirmation. But instead...

"No… no it's not." Adrien answered for her while trying to find a rational understanding, while also Summer looked back at him with disbelief in her eyes. "Summer, if you were to guess; where do you think you are right now?"

"I-I don't know, uh…" Summer tried to wrap her mind around her situation, trying to come up with a reasonable answer to her conundrum. "Maybe I'm in the mountains of Sanus? O-Or maybe I'm in the northern part of Anima or some… unexplored continent?"

"Those are names I've never heard of." Hadvar responded which the other males agreed, and Summer was looking shocked to hear his answer, but he continued. "Though of course, Tamriel is the only continent we've ever known besides the Summerset Isles. Maybe you came from some land we haven't explored yet."

That got her out of her shocked spunk as she thought about it for a moment. There were a few places that had not been explored, and the continent above the Kingdom of Vacuo had not been recolonized in centuries. She began to believe that perhaps she may have been transported to the dragon like continent, and the inhabitants here might be natives. This put some hope into her heart. "I think you might be right. I'll just have to look for a map to understand where I am."

"I'm sure Riverwood would have a map for you to use."

"Thank you." She nodded with a smile.

"Hm, if that's the case...," Ralof started. "Since you're new here, then allow me to welcome you to Skyrim! The wondrous and hardy home of the Nords!" He introduced his home province proudly.

"Um, thank you Ralof." She accepted a little sheepishly, hearing the name "Skyrim" sounding most foreign to her.

"Well, we got plenty of daylight for now." Ralof said. "Interested in telling us about your homeland as we walk?"

"Actually, I'd suggest we let her talk about it after we reach the town." Hadvar advised. "Skyrim's as dangerous as it is this time of day, and I would like to keep my wits about me in case of an ambush."

They all had to agree, and the group moved on down the trail. By now the snow had already given way to the dull grass and uncovered boulders. They had already come across a cobbled road, and following Hadvar, they took left and kept going downhill. Before they went any further, there was something odd jutting out from the mountain side that she spotted.

"Hey guys? What's that over there?" She asked as she pointed out at the structure.

"That ruin up there? That's Bleak Falls Barrow." Ralof answered. "I'd suggest leaving that place alone if I were you. Draugr live in those ruins, and who knows what else is in there."

"What's a draugr?" She asked.

"They're the undead warriors who guard the ancient ruins even after death. They are somewhat formidable as far as I've heard."

"We tend to have undead living in ruins as well, but it's more of a variety." Adrien added. "Although, come to think of it, they're a bit rare to see nowadays thanks to the Vigilants of Stendarr."

She was chuckling at their explanation of the supernatural, but the more she heard of these weird explanations, the more she grew to be confused of her location. They moved on again, and this time, after going down a sharp curving road, they spotted another landmark up close.

"What are those?" Adrien asked this time as they soon stopped in front of them. There were three menhir-shaped obelisks, with a hole carved out near the top of each of them, standing on a stone platform. They had neatly carved depictions of star constellations and images of people. They all looked well made, even if they looked weathered and old.

"These are the guardians stones," Hadvar introduced as he pointed at them. "Three of the thirteen ancient standing stones that dot Skyrim's landscape."

"What do they do?" She asked.

"We're not certain what they do." Hadvar explained. "Legends say that they have the power to rewrite your fate, but I think those are just old tales. Go ahead, see for yourself."

Adrien made himself the volunteer and walked up to the stones. Summer stayed where she was, not wanting to get involved in some superstition. He stood there examining the stones. Each stone had a birthsign. The one to his left had the sign of the Thief, the next in front of him had the sign of the Mage, and the one on his right had the sign of the Warrior. It only took a second to decide, for the Warrior was obvious for him. He walked up to the Warrior stone and placed his hand on the stone's surface, and then suddenly, a light flickered to life inside the hole.

"Warrior eh?" Said Hadvar. "I knew you shouldn't have been on that cart the moment I laid eyes on you."

"Come on, Hadvar, wasn't it obvious from the start?" Ralof remarked in which the soldier ignored. Summer studied the light in the stone from where she stood, wondering how it was being powered until it faded. Ralof noticed her standing there, staring at the stones intently and asked: "Won't you try it out, Summer?"

"Hm? Oh, no, I'm good with my fate as it is." She politely turned down the offer. ' _Although, in all honesty, my fate could've been better.'_ Indeed it could have. She had the ill luck of being surrounded by Grimm when she got nearly vulnerable, but fate had mysteriously been kind to her by opening a dark portal beneath her feet, only to end up in more danger once she reached other side. She felt as if fate had decided to have a twisted sense of humor.

"Oh, come now," he chuckled as he insisted, "it never hurts to know your path, would it? Maybe you'll turn out to be a warrior like us."

She was still unsure about the whole superstition of it, even when she saw the warrior stone glow. For all she knew, there could have been some hidden mechanism to cause that phosphorus glow, but she had to toss that thought away after witnessing the state of their technology, or somewhat lack thereof. So she sighed, shrugged and went up to the platform as she stood among the stones. She looked at the Warrior stone, but knew she was capable enough as a warrior, so she did not pick that one. She then looked to the Thief stone, but decided not to on account of never wanting to be a thief. So lastly she looked towards the Mage stone. She once played a game as a wizard when she was younger, but thought nothing of it contrary to her current skill set. her eyes still lingered intently at it, but the Mage stone suddenly lit up without being touched which surprised her as she took a step back. She turned to the others with confusion written on her face. "Um, was that supposed to happen?"

"Usually the stones would light up without being touched." Ralof explained, a bit surprised she chose the mage stone. "Still, a mage?"

"Does this mean I'm going to be a mage in the future?"

"Or something affiliated with it, who knows." Hadvar answered as he shrugged. "Still, to each their own I guess."

"But why a mage?" Ralof asked, feeling a bit offended that the warrior stone never lit up for her.

"I-I don't know… Maybe I used to play as a wizard when I was young?" She answered sheepishly, unsure of herself.

The men were unsure of the answer given.

"That.. may not make sense why… but perhaps it'll reveal itself to you in time, maybe," Adrien suggested, to which everyone agreed.

The group continued on, and by now they walked on straight next to a riverbed to their left. They all remained silent for a while, which had given Summer a moment to ponder in thought. Since she believed and hoped that the map she would be seeing would be that of the dragon, she had started planning ahead with preparations for a long travel, either down all the way south to the deserts of Eastern Sanus, or to be heading east to Sanctus. But she happened to be debating on a subject that somewhat alluded her attention up until now: herself. She thought back to where she had left off, thinking in both wonder and worry of why she was feeling some lingering aches and pains from her physical actions. Sadly she did not know what to think of this, but she planned to look within herself using meditation once they reach the settlement.

Meanwhile, Adrien was secretly distraught over today's events. The betrayal he experienced back in Helgen was still fresh on his mind, and the only reason he followed Hadvar for this long was because he wanted to find a reason to stay loyal to the Empire. This was not the legion he had remembered and admired as he grew up. No, this was an army in desperation of winning no matter the cost, and he almost got killed by the very empire he served. Other than the shock of seeing an actual dragon, he did not know what to think at this point. Another problem that had come up was his quest. He could not continue his mission, not without his gear and items that had been confiscated from him and quite possibly left behind or taken away. He had been carrying a certain item with the scent of the man's son, in hopes of finding his body more easily once he bought himself a dog, but now he was back to square one. He could only pray that the equipment had not been taken away.

"Listen," said Hadvar breaking the silence, "as far as I'm concerned you've already earned your pardon. But until I can get that confirmed by General Tullius, you should stay clear of other Imperial soldiers and avoid any complications, All right? That also includes you, Summer."

"Right," they said.

"Hold up!" Ralof halted them in their tracks. "Up ahead atop that dirt wall." He pointed.

They followed where he pointed and saw a group of three shaggy wolves prowling atop the eroded dirt wall. The wolves looked back at them, but then the black one, quite possibly the alpha, lifted its head up and howled at the sky.

"Get ready!" They all pulled out their weapons. Hadvar readied his sword and round shield while Summer pulled out her axes. The other two did the same, although they all thought that four against three would be considered easy. They thought wrong. They heard the sounds of growling coming from both sides, and soon the wolves came out of hiding and surrounded them on both ends of the road. Their headcount turned up twelve, easily outnumbering them, but numbers did not matter when honed with training and experience.

"That dragon must've stirred them up. Stay on your guard." Hadvar and Summer stood ready facing their side of the pack while Ralof and Adrien faced theirs. Soon waiting after the snarls and growling, the pack leader barked its command to attack.

Four wolves charged up at Ralof and Adrien. Ralof held one back with his iron war axe right after chopping one down beside it. Adrien bashed one back to be stunned and the other wolf pinned him by climbing up on him to try biting his face, but he held it back, and with one swift move he used his pommel to break the wolf's neck and killed it. Then he tossed the dead dog aside and ran the other one through just after it recovered. The rebel cut the wolf's throat open and shoved the dying wolf aside as they made ready for another attack.

Summer and Hadvar squared off against four wolves as well… but reduced to three when Summer threw her axe, connecting to the wolf's head at close range. Then she finished off her other foe by side-stepping out of its lunge and accurately swung her axe through its mouth, removing the upper skull from the rest of the body. Hadvar shield bashed one back and was about to slice away at the other, but this one ducked under the swing, jumped up and sunk its teeth into his sword arm. He grunted at the pain, but then the wolf he bashed recovered quickly and went at his leg, but he saw it coming and kicked the furry beast in the jaw and bashed its brain with his shield. Then he went on to hit the wolf repeatedly with his shield to make it let go, making the dog tear further at his flesh, and when it finally let go, he swung his shield so hard at it that the sheer force of the impact snapped its neck. Summer quickly stepped up to the embedded axe, pulled it out and got back into formation.

Their numbers were quickly reduced to four, and the alpha snarled before barking its next orders. The remaining two wolves in front of the Huntress and the soldier ran around them along the river coastline and joined with the other retreating wolves. With the pack now gone, they soon relaxed.

"That'll teach them," Hadvar commented as he sheathed his bloodied sword back in its scabbard. He then took out his minor healing potion and drank it all down, completely healing his wound in the process. He tossed it to the ground which broke into many pieces.

"Well, that was easy." Summer said as she flicked the blood off her axe blades before putting the axes back to their places. She really had a feeling of cleaning her entire outfit after this.

"Sometimes they're skittish, often times they're vicious. You'll spot them somewhere in the open, but sometimes you never know when they'll come out of nowhere to ambush you." Ralof explained after flicking blood off his axes. "Gonna need to come back for their furs after this."

"How close are we to Riverwood?" Adrien asked them as he sheathed back his more bloodied sword.

"Very, it's just further up." Summer and the others all got back in the direction they were going, and sure enough she saw trails of smoke in the distance. They were thin, giving her the answer that they were coming from chimneys. She looked down at herself, moreso at her cloak, seeing many splotches of blood clinging to it.

"I should get this cleaned when I get there," she muttered and sighed. Then a thought occurred to her. "Hey guys, why is your hometown named that way if you don't mind me asking?"

"Calling it a town would be stretching it," said Hadvar as he turned to face her. "Riverwood was named after the sawmill built on an islet a long time ago. The main reason the village was named that way is when they send the sawn logs down the river to other settlements."

They continued on. After going around a short corner–and true to his word–just further up ahead was a wooden palisaded wall with a gateless entrance. Eventually they went through the entrance to reveal a small town, as small to a point where she and Adrien believed it would be fitting to call it a village than a town. The place was rather peaceful by the look of it, and the folk here seem to be rather ignorant than panicked of the situation in the sky. The sounds of hammers pounding on metal, to the noise of wood being sawn coming from their right to reveal a sawmill built on a small islet in the river; true to being given the name Riverwood after all.

"Things look quiet enough here." Said Hadvar. "Come on. There's my uncle."

His head pointed towards a building on the left side of the main road, with the deck lighting up rhythmically from time to time. They could see a man pulling up and down a wooden handle attached to a rope going up to a wheel, then to another wheel which the rope wrapped halfway around and then going vertically around and down from a third wheel to somewhere they could not see. But by the look of the light brightening the front of his figure each time he pulled down the handle, she instantly deduced that he was using the bellows to heat up the coals of the forge, heating up a piece of metal to be pounded and molded more easily again. Hadvar's uncle stopped using the crank and pulled the large piece of metal, with the end of its tip being superheated as he laid it on the anvil. He raised his hammer up, ready to pound on it when…

"Uncle Alvor! Hello!" Hadvar called out to his uncle when they got close enough. Alvor stopped immediately after hearing his nephew's voice and looked to him in surprise.

"Hadvar? What are you doing here?" He asked as he left the hot metal on the anvil, set the hammer aside and walked up him. "Are you on leave from… Shor's bones, what happened to you boy?" He asked more, this time with a grimace now that he had a good look at his nephew, being somewhat covered in dried blood and a couple burns. But then he became a little more surprised to see Ralof with him. "And Ralof? What are you doing here? Is the war finally over?"

"I'm sorry but it's not," Ralof answered, "but I think we need to—"

"Ralof?"

They all (including Ralof) turned around to see a blonde haired Nord woman with somewhat of a dirtied face, wearing a dirtied green dress with white underneath, walking off from the wooden bridge and into their view.

"Gerdur!" Ralof said with a happy smile as he walked past the group.

"Mara's Mercy, it's good to see you! But is it safe for you to be here?" She asked in worry after walking up to him.

"Gerdur…"

"We had heard that Ulfric had been captured…"

"Gerdur... I'm fine. At least now I am."

"Are you hurt? What's happened?" But catching from the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Hadvar and two strangers standing beside him. She looked back at her brother in confusion. "What's going on? Are we in trouble?"

"No," he shook his head, "but it's a long story," he explained shortly, "and I think it would be best if we talked somewhere else. Don't want to catch anymore attention than we should."

"I see, and... who are these two?" She pointed to Adrien and Summer.

"They're friends. I owe them my life in fact. But please, let's talk somewhere else."

"...Right, follow me." She waved her hand to follow her as she turned around back to the bridge. Alvor sped up to be with the group as they followed her across the bridge and to the Sawmill.

Meanwhile: "A dragon! I saw a dragon!" An old woman ranted out on the porch.

"What? What is it now, mother?" Said a young, blonde haired, shavened Nord with annoyance, facing her with his fists put to his sides.

"It was as big as the mountain and as black as night. It flew right over the Barrow!"

"Dragons, now, is it?" He scoffed, disbelieving her as he then crossed his arms. "You keep on like this and everyone in town will think you're crazy. And I've got better things to do than listen to your fantasies." With finality, he turned around and left for the tavern.

"You'll see! It was a dragon! It'll kill us all and then you'll believe me!"

The ignorant Nord never realized she was more right than wrong.

Back to the islet: "Hod! Come here a minute. I need your help with something." She called out to her husband.

"What is it, woman? Sven drunk on the job again?" He asked back from up on the Sawmill.

"Hod. Just come here." She demanded with impatience.

He walked up to the edge of the sawmill, revealing himself to be a blonde man with a large mutton chopped mustache, wearing a white belted shirt, dark trousers and brown strapped boots. He looked down to see Ralof among them. "Ralof! What are you doing here?" Then he looked at Hadvar and the others standing with him. "Ah… I'll be right down."

He soon disappeared from sight, but before he came out from behind the mill, Summer's attention went elsewhere when she caught sight of someone walking by, carrying a stacked pile of logs in his arms. He looked lean, wearing a dark brown vest tied closed by a belt wrapped around, and with a green shirt underneath the vest. He wore dirty light green trousers with leather bindings wrapped around his ankles, and brown leather shoes. His facial features looked smooth and very sharp, his eyes were narrow, and his white hair was all tied back into a ponytail. The only feature which caught her attention were those long sharp ears.

' _Long ears? I've never seen those before,'_ Summer thought as her eyes lingered on the ears, but then the strange human stopped and turned his head in her direction.

"Can I help you?" He asked a bit suspiciously with a raised eyebrow.

She looked away almost bashfully, trying to pretend nothing happened after being caught by surprise. "Oh uh, it's nothing! I just I've seen you somewhere."

"Okay?" He said in confusion.

At this point Hod had already come out from behind the mill and everyone began to move, including Summer who wanted this awkwardness to be behind her. The strange man looked on for a bit, although a bit surprised to see Hadvar and Ralof being here, but they all looked to be rather busy with something. So he shrugged it off as weird and went on his way. Everyone had soon gathered around, sitting on logs and a stump before the meeting commenced.

"Now, Ralof, what's going on?" Hod started asking. "You all look pretty well done in."

"I can't remember the last time I slept. Where to start?" He pondered for a bit before starting. "Well, the news you heard about Ulfric was true. The Imperials ambushed us outside of Darkwater Crossing. Like they knew exactly where we'd be. We visited Helgen... when a dragon attacked."

"A… dragon?" Gerdur muttered disbelievingly.

"A dragon?" Alvor questioned in disbelief as well. "You weren't seeing things, were you boy?"

"He speaks the truth, uncle." Hadvar defended. "In fact, we all saw it up close. The dragon just flew in and wrecked the whole place. Mass confusion. I don't know if anyone got out alive. I doubt we'd be alive today if it weren't for these two."

"I let loose a fire Dust arrow that I thought could harm it, yet all I did was make it flinch. It's as if the thing's scales were made of titanium alloy." Summer told.

"Ti—tanium?" Alvor questioned with confusion, but his nephew just shrugged.

"So a real, live dragon is on the loose. This can't be good." Hod began to dread.

"A question if I may," Adrian asked, "But are we the first to arrive here?"

"No one has come up the south road today, as far as I know." She answered.

"So you're saying… we're the only ones who made it?" The survivors let the words sink into them with hints of sorrow and dread, and they all were quiet for a moment. But in the hearts and minds of both Hadvar and Ralof, they believed otherwise.

"I highly doubt that would be the case," said Ralof. "Jarl Ulfric is not the kind of Nord to be killed by a dragon so easily. Though I can't say the same for General Tullius." He mocked.

"My _General_ is far too clever than that." Hadvar fired back. "I wouldn't keep your hopes up."

"That's enough. This is no time for you two to be throwing insults." Alvor stopped them. "Right now we have a more dire situation at hand, don't you think?"

"Alvor's right." Gerdur pitched in. "Riverwood is defenseless. One of you will have to send word to Jarl Balgruuf up in Whiterun to send whatever soldiers he can. This town wasn't built to be well defended against bandits, much less a dragon."

"Perhaps we can lay up here for a time?" Hadvar suggested. "We've gone through a lot, so I was hoping you could let us stay for a night or two." He directed at his uncle.

"Of course! Any friend of Hadvar's is a friend of mine. Though I'm sure you'll be needing to head back to Solitude."

"Of course, and I'm certain Ralof will have to get back to Windhelm as well?"

"You know it."

"Guess that falls down to us to send word." Summer said as she turned her head to look up at the knight.

"Come now, you all should make yourselves at home." Alvor insisted. "I'll let Sigrid know to make some extra meals for the night or two."

"We can help with that," said Gerdur. "My house is open to you as well and, after what you all have been through and what you've done for us, at least allow us to make things a little easier for you."

And so it was that the survivors of that horrible event had made it out with their lives. But… the tales of the knight and the lost rose, had only just begun.

* * *

 **A/N: Okay, finally done with this chapter, and quite the longest one to boot. Summer, the Imperial knight and the two warriors have survived Helgen, but are now faced with a new situation. Summer has grown more suspicious of herself and being confused with where she is. All will be revealed to her in the next chapter, and hopefully (although quite assuredly) he'll believe everything she tells him of where she truly comes from.**

 **This took me a while to write much in detail as best I could, and I hope we got it all right, and if not, then I apologize. A certain someone suggested I write a little more detail on the knight, so I hope that helps. Also, I would like to give an answer to the anonymous reader who left me a question in the reviews. My answer is no, I will not be pairing Summer with the Dragonborn. Summer is simply too loyal to break her vows to her husband back home, but I will pair the Dragonborn with someone else in Skyrim. I just need some time to think about it.**

 **As always, shoutout goes to CruxMDQ for his amazing proofreading and suggestions.**

 **This is Kyro2009, signing off.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Delving For Answers

Adrien and Ralof walked down the road they all once travelled. While the others decided to stay and rest up, he was asked by Gerdur to clear out Embershard Mine for the people of Riverwood. It would have been the ideal place to hunker down in case of a dragon attack, but to what he had been told, it was currently occupied by bandits. So, after taking a small meal and gearing up, it was up to them to make it safe.

He no longer wore the Imperial light armor, since it was damaged and reeked of bloodstains from two different creatures. Instead, Alvor had given the knight a set of iron armor after telling the blacksmith about the request. It would be free of charge if he cleared out the mine he said, and anything he found down there would be his to keep.

The iron armor gave him an almost familiar feeling of wearing a second layer of skin again, but the downside to this armor was the lack of protection in certain areas. The torso was solid with a leather shirt underneath the iron plating, but it lacked having pauldrons for protecting the upper arms. The iron tassets covered the sides of his hips and legs, but his legs had no cover, only wool trousers which left no protection against piercing. His gauntlets consisted of animal fur for warmth, leather gloves, and a plate of iron strapped to the gauntlet by leather straps. It gave decent protection for the forearms, but the rest of his arms were left bare to the elements. His leather boots had a thick fur lining at the top, and a strapped metal plate to act as the shin guard for his ankles. Last, but not least, was the iron helmet. It had the near traditional Nordic look of a spangenhelm, protecting the eyes, nose, cheeks and head, and half the back of his neck, but not his stubble jaws, and his throat was left open for attack. And it had one feature in which Nords have used for intimidating their foes; the horns that were placed on the sides of the helmet. To Adrien, it made him look more like a brigand than a warrior, but beggars could not be choosers.

He would have preferred to wear a suit of steel armor, but he believed he would be pushing his luck with the people's generosity. Besides, it was another upgrade better than that leather legion armor he begrudgingly had to wear.

Ralof, on the other hand, was told to go by her demand that they work together. He did not mind much since he was helping his home village, but there was another reason for going with him. They soon stood in front of the dead wolves they killed before coming to Riverwood, and this was the reason why.

"Alright, time to get to work." Ralof muttered aloud as he pulled out one of his carving knives, got down on his knees in front of one of the dead wolves, and started his process of skinning it.

"You go on ahead," he said as he skillfully yet carefully cut the skin of the wolf down the middle, from the neck to the genitals as the remaining blood began rushing out. "I'll catch up to you once I'm done here."

"That's going to take you a while you know," Adrien mused as he watched, even though he had no experience with skinning animals.

"Trust me, I've done this enough times along with a friend where I can be quick about it. So go ahead and kill a few bandits for Riverwood, would ya?"

"I'll hold you to that. See you later then." He said in farewell as he walked away.

"Aye." He walked over a couple other of the dead dogs and continued down the road. He eventually found the trail off the left side of the road. The trail was almost hidden in the foliage that one would pass by and not notice it. There were logs dug into the ground for easier climbing as he walked up the steps. He was soon near the entrance, but a lone sentry stood guard, leaning against a post. He wore hide armor: far easy to move around in but offered little protection, with a single circular plate covering the center of his chest. It did not even offer warmth either, not that it mattered to the Nords. And neither did it matter to this guy.

The bandit looked ahead from his boredom after hearing movement, and saw a man decked in iron armor appearing before him. "You lost or something? Or are you here to join up?" He asked him ignorantly.

He paused for a moment, somewhat surprised that the bandit mistook him for one of their own, but he was not here to fool anyone. "No," he said coldly as he drew his iron sword.

The bandit had a flicker of shock on his face at first, but then made a menacing look. "Oh, some adventurer, huh?" He sneered as he pulled out his iron war axe. "Normally I'd tell you to turn around and go back the way you came… but I've been getting rather itchy as of late."

The knight got ready to fight.

"Heh, guess no one will miss you when you're dead!" The bandit went at him with forward momentum and his axe raised high for a powerful strike. He believed that this fool was some would-be adventurer judging from the iron sword he carried, but that assumption had become his fatal and last mistake.

The knight took the opportune moment and went sprinting in a burst of speed. The bandit did not have time to bring down his axe when the knight rushed into him, and his heart was run through. His momentum was completely halted, his breath taken right out of him in surprise, and his strength waned as he dropped his axe. He was shoved back as the sword slid out easily, now profusely bleeding out as he struggled to stand, all while trying to comprehend what just happened when the knight sliced his throat open. The force of his swing spun the dying bandit around to the ground, and he died choking on his own blood while building up a pool.

Adrien flicked some of the blood off his blade. He hated bandits just as much as everyone else did. They pillage, murder, rape, and rob whoever and whatever they wanted without regret or remorse, living a life as outlaws and raiders. He would not have to guess that, with the civil war going on, the bandits living in Skyrim had gotten more bolder as of late. It would take adventurers from the Fighters Guild, and even the Knights of his Order in order to bring these lawless villains to justice, but from what he could remember back in his younger days, Skyrim still did not have a Fighters Guild. He wondered sometimes, just how on Tamriel did they deal with them?

He walked past the corpse, not bothering at all to pilfer his belongings. He still followed his morals, even if the man he just killed was scum. He went into the entrance to the mine, expecting to spill more blood.

* * *

Ten minutes ago

Summer walked out of the house while Gerdur went into conversation with the knight. The food was rather decent, if a little tough to chew, but as they say; you learn about the people by the food they cook.

She was without her white cloak and attire and was instead wearing the spare dress clothes given by Gerdur, seeing that it needed tending to after having it covered with bloody splotches of both wolves and large spiders. After borrowing a wash bucket and having cleaned her cloak and clothes of all the filth as best she could, she then had it hung up on a clothesline and went to find a quiet place. She never expected herself to be dropped off somewhere, killing creatures that bleed without carrying the proper cleaning supplies, and having to clean her clothes the older fashioned way. To those who now saw her without her hood, her hair was long down to her upper back, made into a ponytail by a velvet bow.

She walked across the street and went behind an inn to find some peace and quiet from all the noise. She wanted to find out what was going on with herself, and the only way to do so was through Aura meditation as planned. It is a technique used to focus on the energy that is their Aura, and to cultivate and expand that pool of energy for more use. She was only going to be focusing on seeing her Aura, to investigate and determine what was wrong.

She found a dry spot and sat down on her knees. She laid her hands on top of her legs. She closed her eyes, and she breathed deeply, calming herself and clearing her mind of everything before going into controlled breathing, and beginning her concentrated descent into nothingness.

She was in a black void, like a lonely fish swimming under a moonless night. But unlike the fish, she peered deeper into that darkness to find her soul… but what she saw caught her by surprise as something else was in its place she did not expect to find within herself. Glowing in the place of where her Aura should be was a large aura of blue energy.

' _This was never here before,'_ she thought, and her sense of dread was beginning to grow. Her Aura had the color of white, and this was definitely not the color she had before, but curiosity was getting the better of her as she decided to delve further inside this blue mist. Deeper and deeper she went, hoping for a sign that her white Aura would still be here somewhere, but once she reached what she believed to be the center, she had found her Aura, but the current state of it baffled her.

It was small, so small that she could reach out and grab it, but a question had sprung up from the back of her mind:

' _It's so small. Why is it not regrowing?'_ She asked herself with growing concern. Then she looked around at the auric mist that was the blue energy and had a questioning theory. ' _Could this blue aura be holding it down?'_ She looked back at her Aura, and then curiously reached out to touch it, that perhaps it needed some kind of reconnection. She yelped. What she did not expect was a strange orange covering to zap at her touch, making her recoil her hand back in pain. ' _What the—what is this!?'_

The jolt of pain ruined her focus, and she was dragged out of the blue aura, the void, and back to consciousness as she then opened her eyes. Her features creased, the experience now had given her more questions than answers. Although she should be relieved that she still had her Aura, but something about the state of everything she saw was troubling.

She stood up off the ground and sighed as she pressed her curled fingers to her forehead. "Just how…?" She wondered aloud in mild frustration. She raked her hair with her fingers and dropped her hand down to her side. Her emotions were swirling with worry, but then a thought came to mind about summoning her Aura manually. She brought up her left hand, and concentrated on bringing her Aura to glow a sheen around her hand. When nothing happened, she tried harder, but try as she might, she could not bring it out.

"What gives!?" She asked no one but herself in frustration as she shot her hand down and sighed. Her mind still went swirling with questions. She first thought that the blue aura was what kept it compressed, but witnessing this strange barrier had made her think otherwise. Could it be that her Aura formed its own barrier to keep it safe from harm? She had never read anything about Aura doing something like that, so that had to be a contradiction. And that blue aura; how did she get it? Did she contract it as a side effect from the portal she fell through?

Her own situation had become more complicated than she thought.

* * *

Meanwhile

Adrien went in through the door and walked carefully down. It was as expected to see in a mine; the support beams were built to keep the ceiling from collapsing as the miners dug deeper, and the wooden track next to him was made to carry waste rocks and mineral ore out of the mine.

He soon halted when he spotted a line of rope hovering in front of his ankles. He looked left to see it tied to a stake at one end, then looked right to see the rope wrapped around a wheel, all the way up past the scaffolding. Good thing the torchlight to his left exposed the trigger mechanism. Otherwise he would have been crushed by the large rocks placed above him.

When in caves, ruins, and even camps, bandits would always create traps to either alert them of incoming intruders, or to just kill them. They would make a rope tied with bones to act as an alarm in case no one was looking, for example. Or they would rig a chest by hanging a chained spiked mace to the ceiling to smash one's skull in case they tried opening it. And it's not just the bandits that can make traps. Even the goblins back in his home province were crafty with making their own traps, primitive though they may be. In ancient ruins, there are traps already built in to act as a security measure to halt or get rid of unwanted guests, and even after a thousand years, they would still function to this day.

He considered himself lucky. He had laid witness to traps more elaborate than this, and had survived many other traps back in his day as an adventurer to know where to look and what to expect. Sometimes, a trap laid out to stop you could also help you. There were times where he would turn the enemy's traps against them if the odds were going against him. It's all about thinking ahead. Plus it could sometimes be funny to take advantage of their low intelligence.

He carefully stepped over the rope line, keeping in mind that he would have to come back and disable it. Then he continued down to what he saw would be a large chamber, with a wooden deck built over the shores of a cave pond.

"Aren't you worried that someone's going to walk in here?" He heard a voice coming from the right of the chamber and hid behind a wall, then he took a glancing peak around the corner and listened in. Luckily, the wall he hid behind was shrouded in shadow. "The entrance isn't exactly hidden, you know."

"This again?" The other bandit said with annoyance. "I told you, we have someone standing guard out there. And don't forget the rock trap we rigged up. So, stop your worrying and get some rest. Your shift is coming up and I don't want you dozing off again like last time."

There were only two bandits, and one of them was done chipping away at something with a pickaxe, but he could hardly tell what it was from where he stood, even with the campfire illuminating part of it behind them. Sneaking was out of the question because of his armor, but he did not care for that. He was a warrior, not an assassin. So he went out of hiding and walked on the deck.

"Hey." He called out and got their attention out of surprise.

"What the–who are you!?" The bandit with the pickaxe asked. "How'd you get in here!?"

"I went through the guard to get in here." He answered evenly as he slowly walked along the deck. "I would ask that you all leave this mine and never come back… but I guess that's too much to ask."

The bandit growled in anger at the insult given by a mere adventurer. "Get him!" He barked, and the other bandit dropped the pickaxe, pulled out his steel war axe and joined his companion wielding an iron mace as they ran towards the ramp.

The knight was biding his time, walking as he pulled out the iron sword. The bandit duo were now on the deck, running at him without any care for a plan of attack. The bandit with the iron mace swung at him, but the knight parried the swing and shoved him aside hard enough to make him fall over the railing. He quickly dodged to the side away from a downward axe swing, and when the bandit tried to swing at him again, his wrist was grabbed by the knight and was then stabbed through in the lung between his rib cage. He pushed the surprised, dying bandit away from his bloodied sword, swung his weapon down hard and finished him off in a spatter of blood.

He did not have time for a breather when he sensed incoming danger and, with excellent reflex, he parried away a thrown mace? It caught him by surprise, but it was enough for the angry, charging bandit to tackle him to the ground. The bandit punched him twice in the face before pulling out his iron dagger and attempted to stab him, but the knight was luckily not dazed enough as he stopped the incoming knife by grabbing his wrists with both hands. The struggle ensued, and the snarling bandit put more muscle into his arms in the attempt to bury the dagger into his throat, but surprisingly the knight still held it back against his strength. On a dare, Adrien freed his right hand as he put more force into his left arm to keep it at bay, then his hand went down and pulled out his iron dagger. The bandit was too focused on killing him to notice the incoming dagger as the sharp weapon became buried into his left eye. The bandit screamed in bloody pain as the socket bled out, relieving the pressure, dropping his dagger and reflexively reached up to the dagger buried in his eye, but that left him wide open as Adrien grabbed the bandits dagger and plunged it into his stomach. Then he used his hands to grab his sides, lifted him up and then pulled out his leg to then kick him off and away from him. The knight was getting up as he grabbed his sword, then ran and stabbed the bandit in the chest, just right after the scum pulled it out. He twisted it harshly to silence the bloody yells, as the bandit went still.

He breathed easy as the adrenaline wore off. He pulled out his iron sword in a wet squelch and inspected the bodies. They were both very much dead as the pools of blood seeped through the cracks between the floorboards and dripped into the pond. They must have been the grunts to his inspection of their fight. With them out of the way, he then inspected the damage to his sword in the dim light. Its sharpness was getting dull as the edges were getting more chipped away, and he spotted a few dents here and there, even amongst the bloodstains. He guessed that any more stress to the sword and it just might break. He did not have a whetstone on him to re-sharpen the blade and thought of getting one at some point, but he filed the thought to the back of his mind for later.

He sheathed his bloodied sword and looked around. Beyond this deck was a cave pond with a waterfall raining from above next to a raised drawbridge at the end. In order to get across to the next area, he had to find the lever connecting to the bridge. He did not know where it could be at first, but he could guess that the lit overlook above the pond could be where the switch was. He then looked down the large hallway, illuminated by a single torch sconce which might lead to the lit room he saw, but right now, his mind grew curious as to what the bandit was picking at. So he walked over the body and went down the ramp, went past the bonfire and kneeled in front of the strangely shaped rock stuck against the cave's wall. Thanks to the lighting from the fire, he got a decent look at what it was, and to his small surprise…

"Well, what do you know… iron ore." He discovered. "So this mine isn't empty after all."

He stood back up after being satisfied with the discovery. He was never given much information on the mine itself, and only knew… well, assumed, that the mine was empty of resources, but as it turned out, they were untrue after all. But that also meant that the bandits here had a reason for occupying the mine. They may have a blacksmith of their own, which was a high probability, and if he was right, then they could be using this mine to forge weapons and armor for the scum to start a raid on the defenseless people of Riverwood. He was not going to let that happen, and it was all the more reason to kill them and put an end to their operation. His job was to clear the mine, while at the same time saving the village from being burned to the ground. So in retrospect, it would be like killing two birds with one stone.

He walked back up the short ramp and turned right into the large dark tunnel. To his delightful discovery, he found a passage which definitely led him to the room. He followed down that way and was soon within the brazier lit room after taking a turn. He had already spotted the lever built onto a slab of bricks on the wooden balcony floor, right next to a natural column, but he took a quick look around the area first. The wood floored overlook was a little spacious, with a natural column at the center, and very few furnishings like the single square table and chair to his right, and across from them a near empty storage shelf and a small mead barrel placed on top of a barrel. There was nothing that he needed in here, so he walked up to the lever and cranked it forward. The drawbridges became active as they went down one at a time with a creaking pat, now connecting the two points together, but suddenly heard a commotion.

"The bridge went down!" One of the bandits said in surprise.

"Come on, I think I heard something over here." The other bandit muttered as they went across the bridge. The leading bandit was a Nord who wore hide armor and carried, with two hands (or perhaps dragged), an iron battle axe while the other (an Imperial renegade like the other two) wore fur armor and wielded a steel war axe. Once they reached the other end (while Adrien walked out of the room to fight them), they came across the bodies of their dead comrades.

"Damn! I thought we had a guard posted outside." The bandit with the war axe said somewhat nervously.

"We did! But keep your eyes peeled. I don't think we're alone in here. You check the entrance. I'm going to look over here."

"No need!" Adrien called out as he charged at them from the hallway with his sword drawn.

"You're mine!" The bandit with the battleaxe growled in anger as he ran at him and lifted up his large axe for a powerful chop. The knight saw this coming almost too late and had to dodge at a split second before the axe could chop him in half, then he shouldered the bandit in the side to get him off balanced. He had to block an attack from the war axe wielder by using his left iron gauntlet as a shield before finishing him by stabbing him in the heart with the sword. The gauntlet was surprisingly effective as a shield for a half inch thick slab of iron.

"Damn you!" The knight had already pulled out his sword when he spun around to meet his attack and immediately raised his sword. He used the flat side, used with both hands while his left hand was placed almost to the end of the sword. Perfectly, and luckily timed, he successfully block the axe head from chopping his head. The axe landed near the sword guard where the blade was wider and thickest. If it had hit the middle, then the sword would have broken in half, and the axe would have continued its descent. He immediately redirected the axe off to the right, then with both hands holding the sword like a spear, he shoved the sword into his gut, but just missing his heart. The Nord growled in pain, but the pain only served to anger him more, acting like a painkiller as the bandit kicked him fiercely away from him as the sword slid out of his body. The knight fell to the floor backwards from tripping over the dead body, and then had to roll out of the way of an incoming axe chop as the weapon buried an inch deep into the wood, right where his head used to be. The knight got back up and made to block, but the Nord swung the axe hard enough to disarm him, and then went in to pin him against the railing with his axe, but the knight had righted his footing so he would not fall over, and had his hands on the battleaxe as well.

The struggle was on, a power struggle between two strong men in a bid to show who was dominant, but it only lasted a moment before the knight used his strength to start pushing him back a bit, surprising the Nord before the knight used his boot to kick him in the shin to make him buckle, then pulled the bandit forward to head butt him with his helmet. He was not done as he pulled him back in for a second headbutt. The second impact dazed the Nord, then Adrien shoved him and yanked the battleaxe from his hands. The bandit was never given time to recover as he got bashed in the right cheek by the butt end of the axe, spitting out blood and shattering teeth as he spun halfway and staggering. He then felt jolted and breathless by the axehead buried in the center of his his chest. It became the final blow as the axehead was forcefully pulled out, pulling him to the wood floor as he rapidly bled out, soon losing his life when the axe came down again one more time.

The adrenaline slowly disappeared as he breathed from the fatigue of battle, then he pulled the axe out of the dead Nord's back and laid the weapon against his shoulder as he went searching for his iron sword. He found it where it landed in the natural hallway and lifted it to inspect the damage this time under the torchlight, but he already noticed right away that this sword was beyond saving. The blade was broken off diagonally near the guard to his quiet surprise. It was not everyday one would witness someone hitting the exact same area a second time.

Seeing it had completely outlived its usefulness, he discarded it and brought the bloodied iron battleaxe to bare for inspection. It weighed about twenty pounds, made with hardened wood and forged iron, with long leather strips crisscrossing all the way down to the iron cap. The axehead was obviously singular, being sharp and designed to split skulls, combined with a spike made behind it to perhaps act optionally as a war pick (or battle pick). This weapon, meant for using two hands was rather versatile for having options, although he would prefer using a greatsword than a battleaxe. Speed-over-weight and all that. But for now, he would be using it.

He walked out of the hallway, retrieved his iron dagger from the corpse of the bandit, took the still burning torch off the wooden sconce and walked across the drawbridge, ready to continue on with completing the quest.

* * *

Meanwhile

While everyone was going about their business, Summer walked about with a troubled thought of her personal situation after walking away from behind the inn. Although she knew that continuing to dwell on the questions behind her Aura's imprisonment was not going to get her answers anytime soon, but she could not help it, and the experience she witnessed still shook her. The Silver eyed Huntress had never been in a dire situation where her Aura would never activate, and just the feeling of being forced to no longer rely on it scared her for once. Many Huntsmen and Huntresses have relied on their Aura and Semblances to perform incredible feats to give them an edge against the Grimm, but she could no longer do that now. And now the next question would be… what was she going to do now?

She was now reaching the middle of an intersection of the village, still brooding when they were broken by the now loud sound of metal being pounded repeatedly. She looked up ahead, past the porch to see Alvor working tirelessly at the forge, shaping a super hot piece of large metal into… what she would guess would either be a tool or a weapon. A little girl with dark hair stood close, watching his work in fascination. The sight of the primitive forge suddenly brought up memories of when she first started learning to forge. She was a young girl, who grew to be fascinated with weapons, and was curious to learn how they worked. Her father was a blacksmith who cherished the thought of passing the torch onto her, but when it came to the point where she joined a combat school, she promised to one day perfect the art and surpass her father. That was where she forged her very own personal twin axes. Those times were a bit tough for her growing up training to be a warrior, but they were rewarding, and they were something she would always cherish to this day.

' _Maybe he could use some help?'_ She asked herself when an idea had come to her. ' _After all, I could use the distraction.'_

She strolled up the short steps to the porch, went alongside the house and stood next to a wooden support beam. She was planning to knock on the wooden beam to politely get their attention, but the sound of creaking wood with each step she took caught the girl's attention as she spun around to see the visitor.

"Oh! Hi miss!" The little girl greeted with a cute smile. "Come to watch my father make awesome stuff?"

She giggled at her question, and learned that she's his daughter. "I'd love to, but I was wondering if your father needs any help around the forge."

That drew his attention as he stopped, although he had to stop cranking the bellows to hear her better after putting the metal bar back in the forge. "Hm? Oh! Your name is Summer, right? Did you say if I need any help?"

"Yes. Since I got nothing else to do, I figured maybe you could use an extra hand."

"I wouldn't mind the assistance, lass, if you've got the skills." He mused as he then hummed in thought for a second, stroking his beard when he came up with a test for her. "Alright, how about a test. Try forging an iron dagger for me. The materials are all available here for you to use.

"Go ahead, give the forge a try." Alvor stepped away but, before he would let her step up to the forge, he realized one other thing. "Oh, and you'll be needing this, lass." He untied the straps behind his back, took off his apron and handed it out to her.

"Thank you," she said as she gladly took the apron from him and put it on. It was somewhat big but it covered half around her torso and managed to have it tied around her waist. With that done, she strolled up to the forge, and examined her surroundings. The table to her right had almost everything she needed to complete a dagger, with one half of the table having the materials while the other half had weapons and armor pieces strewn about. She found the iron dagger on the table and picked it up to examine the details. It was somewhat simple in design, with the double edged blade having a simple crease going in the middle. The guard had a simple pattern in design. The wooden handle had iron wires going around the handle to hold the wood in place, with a single nail holding the blade, ending with an iron pommel. Now to her, this was what the iron should be used to make, not make something so long like that longsword.

' _I don't really_ have _to make it the same, should I?'_ She thought in question, but then she shrugged deciding to make the dagger her own way. She set the dagger back on the table and looked back at the materials, spotting one long metal bar the length of her forearm. It was perfect for her to use as she grabbed the end of the bar and stuck the other end into the hot coals of the forge. She then firmly grabbed the handle with her left hand, but before she pulled it down, she looked to Alvor. "I hope you don't mind the wait. I haven't forged anything in a while since I got married."

"I can understand, so I won't mind this time." He replied in understanding.

She nodded in thanks, returned her focus back to the forge and pulled the handle down, activating the bellows to blow into the hot coals. The forced air made the coals glow brighter along with the heat's intensity upon the bare skin of her face until she stopped pulling down the rope and letting up on it, dragging her gripped hand back up as the bellows went down, and the coals returned to their dim glow until she pulled it down again. It took a bit of adjusting in pulling down the handle, but she soon made a rhythm of evenly pulling it down and up again and again, about seven times until she grabbed the tongs next to her and pulled out the now super heated metal and laid it on the anvil while still hold it with her tongs.

It would take some getting used to after her long absence from forging, and although this technology was more old fashioned than what she was used to having acquired back home, it would luckily become easy for her to adjust as she grew confident in her skill, and continued to roughen the shape of the blade in her image.

* * *

Meanwhile

Adrien was already on the other end of the bridge, walking passed the brazier and into the dark mine tunnel. Thanks to the torch in his left hand, it was easier to see where he was going, but he still walked with caution knowing there could still be bandits around any corner. At least he won't be ambushed so easily.

There was already some light at the other end of this stretch of the tunnel, and before he made for that corridor, there was some cracks of light coming from the right periphery of his vision, and he turned his head and saw wooden boards boarded up into partly a wall, with an opening large enough for anyone to stick half their bodies through. He walked up to the opening, seeing there was a coin bag with a few silver coins lying about on the square table, along with an iron dagger stabbed into the table, a spell book by the look of it, and an iron mug. He did not have to guess after peering halfway through the opening that this was a treasure room. The room contained barrels and sacks from their raids elsewhere (probably caravans), and even had a large ornate treasure chest set next to a weapon rack. As for the weapon rack itself, Adrien spotted an iron greatsword propped next an iron warhammer. That would be the kind of weapon he would prefer to wield, just so he would not need the weapon he currently held, but to get what he wanted, he would have to find the door to the room. He could not just climb on though this large opening without alerting someone, otherwise he would be caught in a compromising position. That someone would be the one guarding the door to the loot.

He went away from the opening and continued on down the tunnel until he went around the torchlit corner… Only to expectedly walk into someone when he grunted with "huh?" He quickly looked to his right to see, even in the dimmed distance from the torches, was a man quickly standing up from his chair, which he was standing next to the gate leading to the treasure room. His attire was very dark in the darkness, but he could tell he was wearing studded armor, an upgrade from the hide armor a few of the others were wearing, but it was called that because the tassets were studded.

"Well ain't this a surprise!" He said in a low, guttural tone as he pulled out his steel mace and went charging at him. Adrien tossed the torch forward at the bandit and readied his battleaxe. The torch illuminated the bandit's visage for just a split second before he deflected it with his mace to ground next to him. He turned out to be an orc, with the recognizable dark green skin and the two sharp tusks jutting up from his lower jaw. With a growl he took a diagonally overhead swing at him, but the speed of a mace was slower than swinging an axe, making it easy enough to block with the shaft of his battleaxe.

Although maces are heavier to swing due to how they are designed, the powerful blows they give make up for it, and they can be damaging to those wearing plate armor without having to penetrate them. But this steel mace had flanges meant to cause both denting and penetrating armor. So if a blow to the iron helmet were to happen, it would be fatal.

The impact shook him, and the edges of the mace caused dents to both the leather and wood, but it was not powerful enough to destroy the shaft as he shoved the flanged mace back to the orc. Then, while keeping his guard up and the orc swung it from his left, he moved back and the mace missed him by a couple inches. The orc made for an overhead swing again, but the knight was already on the move, blocking the attack above him with his axe and kicking the orc in the stomach, forcing him to stumble back with the air knocked out of him. Then he immediately and powerfully swung his axe to kill him before he recovered, but it was not with the axe's blade. What finished the orc was the axe's spike which penetrated through the side of his skull. The orc flew sideways spasming for a bit before falling ungracefully to the ground.

The spike was already pulled out of the now dead orc when he flew, and all was almost quiet when he heard the faint echoes of metal being pounded, and they came from further down the tunnel, giving him the obvious answer that they _are_ making weapons. His mind went back to the task at hand, and was about to approach the body when he heard rapid footsteps coming from where he came. The light at the corner was rapidly growing brighter, so he leveled his axe and got ready. But it soon became a false alarm when he recognized a familiar Stormcloak Nord coming out from around the corner, holding a torch and a waraxe.

"Ralof...?" He asked in surprise as he lowered his guard.

"Adrien! It's good to see you're still in one piece." He relaxed as he put away his axe and walked up to him. "And I'm amazed how well you've taken care of them without help."

"I survived many battles and adventures thanks to the Fighters Guild. That was before I gained my knighthood."

"I see," he nodded in understanding, "now I can see where you got all that from."

"I'm kind of amazed you skinned all those wolves that quickly."

"It comes with experience my friend. So what now?"

"I was about to pilfer the key from him and pick the door over there," he says as he gestured his finger towards the cage door.

"Well, let's see…," the Nord rebel kneeled beside the dead orc under the torchlight, going the satchel until he felt something slender and solid and took it out to reveal a key. "Alright, This must be it." He stood back up and walked up to the door. He slotted the key inside the lock, twisted it until it made click, and he opened the door and stood aside, gesturing him. "After you?"

The knight nodded in thanks and walked on inside. The first thing he went for was the bag of septims left on the table, and while he poured the twenty three Septims into his coin purse, he struck up a conversation. "So Ralof, where did you learn to skin animals? I thought you said you never liked using the bow?"

"Yes and that's still true, but I learned it from a friend of mine who took me hunting with him oftentimes. I tried to be decent with a bow at times, but I just couldn't have the feel for it like he did. Yet when he taught me how to skin them, I was more than capable of doing so. So whenever he came back hunting, he would bring his kills to me."

"What was your friend's name?" He asked as he picked up the spell book, identifying it to be for a Clairvoyance spell. ' _Maybe Summer could use this?'_ He wondered, then he stuffed it into his pack for later thought.

"His name's Fenrik Ingrikson… _was_ Fenrik. He died in battle not long ago." He soon spoke solemnly.

"I'm sorry. You have my condolences." He apologized after he had set down the axe beside the barrels, and was inspecting the iron greatsword he took out from the rack when he paused.

"Thanks but there's no need. Although he used a bow during that battle, but I know he died a true Nord after taking a few with him."

"I see…" He soon went back to looking at the rest of the large sword after making a quick silent prayer. The condition of this weapon was freshly decent and unused. The wooden handle was long for two hands and the guard was wide enough to protect his hands. The blade was wide near the guard, but continues to shrink toward the tip. It was thick and sturdy enough, even for iron, but at least he could wield what he was more comfortably proficient at. So he returned the greatsword to the rack for the time being and opened the chest. He spotted two bags of coins, plus a couple enchanted items to possibly sell. Luckily, he did have enough room in his backpack to carry the rest of these items, so he took an enchanted ring, an enchanted dagger, and the enchanted iron gauntlets, and put the other two coin bags into it as well. He closed the chest and retrieved his new sword, then was all done as he walked out.

"I'm all done," he said. "Are you sure you didn't want anything in there?"

"Nah," he shook his head, "I'm fine with what I've got. I've got enough provisions that I can make it back to Windhelm on foot."

"Whatever helps you, I suppose." he shrugged, then he turned serious. "Let's go."

The two warriors continued on through the cavernous tunnel. They could hear the banging of metal getting louder as they drew close. Eventually, after going through a corridor, they came upon an entrance to a much larger room. They crouched down and crept up to a column to take a better look at the environment without being spotted. The room was very large in height, being nearly three stories. It had a smaller pond with a waterfall at the end of the chamber. A suspension bridge stretched across from one level to their left, all the way to the other end. A sentry patrolled the bridge with a bow strapped to her back. At the bottom, they could clearly see the glowing forge built between the surrounding ramplike stairs, with a bandit forging weapons as he heated the forge again and again before pulling out a hot metal bar.

"So the mine is not dried up after all," Ralof commented in a whisper.

"Ralof." Adrien had his attention with a hum. "We should split up. I'll take care of the blacksmith and get the archer's attention while you run up the ramp and take her out. Sound good?"

He nodded. "I'll go when you start the attack."

"There may be more hiding somewhere, so be ready." Once the archer's back was to him, he got up and moved at a quickened pace. He turned his head right after noticing some light to see a hollowed out area, which the ground was built over with floorboards, contained three bedrolls and a table with a lit candle horn, and a minor healing potion being left there. He went up and took the healing concoction into his pack, then made a beeline for the ramp going down.

"Hey!" He called out, stopping the blacksmith from his work as he looked up at him with surprise and confusion.

"What the– who are you?!" He asked the armored stranger in apprehension and anger.

"Who do you think?" He asked back evenly and threateningly as he stood there on the wooden platform and readied his greatsword. Realization dawned on the bandit quickly, now seeing him as the outside threat who got this far through the other guards defending this place.

"Shit! We've got an intruder!" He yelled out to everyone that was left in the chamber as he dropped everything he held, pulled out his iron mace and ran up the ramp to fight him.

His sword was poised and ready to chop him when he felt a sense of imminent danger coming from above. He immediately jerked up to see the archer about ready to fire an arrow at him as she then did so. He took a step back to dodge the arrow as the tip got lodged into the floorboard, and he immediately refocused back to the blacksmith. The knight had enough room to swing his sword when the bandit readied his mace, strong enough to disarm him both his hand weapon. The bandit lurched in pain but had half his head chopped off in a bloody fashion when the knight swung the sword back using the other edge.

Meanwhile, Ralof had heard the shouting of "intruder" as the signal, and made the cue to run out of hiding, pull out his axes and go up the ramp that was built into the cave wall, but was then accosted by a bandit running down the ramp from the level above, wearing fur armor and wielding an iron warhammer. They caught each other by surprise, but the bandit was more surprised than him, and Ralof immediately went charging up to the bandit, and it only gave the scum little time to react. The bandit tried an overhead swing but was too late as he was rammed by the rebel Nord, then got headbutted which made him end up with a destroyed nose and disoriented him, then got an axe buried deep through his shoulder, making him yell out in pain.

It got the archer's attention after she angrily aimed for his head to avenge the blacksmith and let loose another arrow, only for it to glance off the back of his helmet and made him yelp a bit in surprise. She turned her attention to see her other comrade get finished off by having his windpipe get torn open by a waraxe. She quickly knocked an arrow, pulled and immediately let it loose, only to successfully hit the Nord in the shoulder. Ralof grunted, but his toughness and adrenaline numbed the pain as he yanked the arrow out of his right shoulder, hopped over the dead bandit and ran after her with killing intent.

The knight saw her getting ready another arrow, but he was not going to let her finish as he dropped the sword, pulled out the iron dagger and threw it at her. She was aiming at the Nord rebel when something sharp went buried into the side of her torso. She grunted loudly with her teeth bared as she let loose the arrow, but it went off course and missed him as he ran up to the distracted archer and brought down the axe deep into her right shoulder, causing a deep, bloody wound. He pulled it out and the archer fell to her knees as he moved to her right side and, with both axes, executed her by chopped her head right off in a shower of blood. Her decapitated head rolled off the bridge, landed onto the ground and rolled into the pond.

"Nice work, Ralof." Adrien congratulated after relaxing himself from battle. He then knelt down and picked up his greatsword.

"No problem, and thanks for the assist." Ralof complimented back as the adrenaline wore off and he slid his axes back into their holsters.

"You're welcome. I saw you get shot with an arrow."

"That's just nothing but a sting," he verbally waved it off while his shoulder kept bleeding. "I got what I need to patch myself up."

Shrugging it as Nord toughness, he changed back to the main topic of concern. "You know, I'm a bit surprised there was no bandit leader this whole time." Adrien thought out loud with wonder.

"You're right. Maybe they're branching out?"

"Maybe. I'll go look around to see if they have anything to offer us."

"You do that. Meanwhile I'll be checking up here."

The two went about their way while Ralof went for a seat on the second level to patch himself up. Adrien went down the ramp to investigate the forge and everything else around it. Besides the forge, there was a grindstone and a workbench set up next to it. In the back, the lit torch sconce showed a weapon rack surrounded by a dozen pieces of armors, and a table having lumps of ore and what he could see were two books, ignoring the bucket underneath it. He went to the table, and he first picked up the red book which titled Light Armor Forging. Something irked within his mind to take the book with him, but thinking back to how much room he had left in his travel pack, he guessed he could only carry a couple more. So he set the sword against the table, unslung his backpack around and set it on the table as he then opened it and put the book inside. Then he went for the next book which looked smaller than the other one, and it was wrapped in leather which gave him the idea that this was a journal. He picked it up and opened it to see handwritten writing which was just decent enough for him to read. It turned out to be belonging to the one forging the weapons and armor, detailing the little exploits he made so far, as well as writing his complaints. But as he read further, he came across an entry which piqued his interest.

" _So we've come to this mine and for what, make ready to start a small war?! This is nuts I'm telling ya! Our boss tells we're being paid by some noble in Falkreath to do some business, and we're told to start making weapons and whatnot to take over one small town for ourselves. If you ask me, this smells wrong, even if it is going to give us quite a fortune. I'd rather not dig my own grave, but I'm no fool. They might sooner cut off my head if I say anything wrong. So all I now do is forge this and that, breathe and sleep in damp dirt, and all we gotta do is wait until the boss says we're ready. This seriously better be worth it."_

' _A noble in Falkreath?'_ He thought with intrigue, until it dawned on him. This must be a backdoor political move. He was no fan of politics, and his Order always made it their business to stay out of the game, but there are times when they unexpectedly end up being the unsuspecting pawn. This may be one of them, but it would seem he in turn interrupted the intrigue.

' _Perhaps Gerdur should take a look at this,'_ he thought, and he put the journal in the bag. He looked at the lumps of ore and soon came up with a thought. ' _Maybe Riverwood should consider re-opening this mine for business? Hmm, but with the bandits possibly coming back to check up on their work…'_

It was concerning, but he filed it away for later, since he had more important business to take of as he reslung the backpack, grabbed the sword and a lump of ore, and strolled back up the ramp to meet up with his companion. He was back on the second level as he strolled to the next ramp leading the next level. Upon reaching where his companion was, he spotted Ralof coming out of a room to his left, bearing the wrappings around his shoulder to stop the bleeding.

"Ah, Adrien. I just found a food storage in there," Ralof explained, "and I even found a few gems and some treasure. You can have them by the way."

"No, you keep'em, I'm good with what I have for now." He politely turned down the offer. "And I'm sure you'll need them for the long road home."

"Suit yourself," he shrugged, "but thanks."

"Well, I guess that's everything." He looked back at the bridge, and followed the path to a open tunnel above. "Let's head across the bridge and into that tunnel." He pointed his gloved finger towards the tunnel. "Perhaps it'll lead us to the exit."

"I'm right behind you." The two went across the bridge and went up into the tunnel, eventually leading them, to their small surprise and relief. A secondary exit.

* * *

When they reached the exit, they discovered to be near Riverwood to both their convenience and phantom concern. They started strolling downhill across the lightly forested land, but Ralof had something on his mind to ask him.

"Adrien," he said.

"Yeah?"

"I was thinking, maybe you should join us."

"Join your rebellion?" He was beginning to know where this was going.

"Yes. You saw what the Empire truly is, so why not take up arms and join Ulfric's cause."

He thought about it, until they jumped off onto the road in front of the gate. "I think I'll have to give it some more thought. You know we've went through a lot to get here." It was not that he wanted nothing to do with the civil war, since his Order had been explicitly told not to interfere, but for the time being he was conflicted.

"Well, I guess I understand your point, and I won't push you. But, if you do decide to join, you'll find Ulfric in Windhelm."

"Duly noted." Since they were back through the same entrance they had before, Adrien decided to meet up with the blacksmith as his first order of business to deliver the good news, and show his discovery. To their surprise, not only did they see Alvor leaning against the support beam and not working, but he was watching Summer as she worked diligently with the forge, and without her hood.

"Never expected her to work at the forge so soon." Ralof mused.

"She did say she forged her axes. Let's go see what she's crafting." They were both in agreement with curiosity getting the best of them as they strolled up to Alvor's forge.

"Alvor," Adrien called out to him, loud enough through the noise of the bellows.

The blacksmith turned his head to the familiar voice who called his name, and to his relief, Adrien and Ralof had returned from raiding the mine, though almost covered in blood. "Adrien! Ralof! It's good to see you both back in one piece. So, I take it that the mine is cleared?"

"It's cleared, with all the bandits now dead." Ralof answered for him.

Summer overhead it and faltered a bit, but otherwise she continued her work.

"We found some treasure and a food storage, most likely stolen no doubt. I'm sure you folks would want it more than I do." Adrien added.

"Really, thank you for letting us know." Alvor thanked. "I'm sure we'll put them to good use."

"That's not all. Take a look at what I found in the mine." Adrien handed up the lump of ore to the smith, and upon a quick examination, his eyes widened with surprise.

"This is… it's iron ore!" Alvor exasperated. "And you found this in the mine?"

"When Gerdur said it was once abandoned, I thought it was because the mine was dried up. But then I saw one of the bandits picking away at a large boulder before killing them. That's when I discovered it was an iron ore vein he was trying to extract."

"Truly… and do you have more?"

"That was just a sample. There's plenty more ore in that mine, and I've seen several or more veins in there to start a business. Which was what I've been thinking about on the way back."

"Re-opening the mine for business, huh?" Alvor wondered as he stroked his beard in thought. "It could most definitely help with my ore situation. That way I won't have to pay for the ore deliveries anymore, and it could bring more people and wealth to Riverwood, that's for sure, but the entrance to the mine is just too far away for safety."

"Actually, we just came out of another entrance near Riverwood. It could be safe if the other entrance further away is blocked off."

"That would help with the distance problem, but I'd go and tell Gerdur all about this if I were you."

The knight nodded. "I will, but speaking of people...," he turned his attention towards the woman, "how long has she been at the forge?"

"Well over thirty minutes I believe. She asked if I needed a helping hand, so I'd decided to give her a test by having her forge an iron dagger." He then looked in her direction, seeing her sharpening the edges of the dagger like an expert. "And I think she's nearly done."

Adrien and Ralof went to the porch and to the forge to see her work. Summer, meanwhile, was staying focused, inspecting both edges from time to time as she grinded the metal against the fastly rolling grindstone. She soon stopped grinding the edges and inspected the sharpness one more time. She smirked and nodded at her own handiwork, and stopped pedaling the grindstone as she then stood up, pushed back down the folds of her long skirt to cover her legs, and went to the smith.

"Here you go, all done." She proudly hands out her finished dagger to him. He gently took the dagger and examined it. The little weapon was nearly simple in design, with the guard being made into a short, wide V shape. The wooden handle fitted well with the blade and guard, and the pommel was well made. The double edged blade looked to be longer than the typical iron dagger's, and the framework was almost simple to look at with the raised crease going in the middle. He turned it over to see how sharp the edges were, and to his amazement they looked as sharp as a razor due to how thin she put them, yet still seemed thick enough not to chip so easily.

"I gotta say, it's simple in design yet well made." He complimented. "How about we test it's cutting edge." He walked past Summer and to the table, picking up a piece of parchment before turning back around and handing it out to Summer. "Here, hold this for me, will you?"

She grabbed hold of the blank parchment with both hands and held it stretched out to him. He set the knife on the top middle of the parchment, and to his amazement and the others, the sharp blade had cut through the parchment with ease like a knife through butter. "Haha, it's as sharp as a steel dagger! Well done."

"Thank you," Summer said as she smiled at the compliment as she set aside the two parchments.

"Mind if I take a look at that?" Ralof asked, and the blacksmith nodded before passing it to him to look at it.

"You know, even for a simple forge like this, it took me only a bit to adapt. I'm still glad I haven't lost the talent." She stated positively.

Ralof gave the dagger to Adrien to inspect it, and he, too was fascinated by how well she crafted such a simple dagger.

"Well, since you sound very confident," Alvor said, "how about one more test?" He turned around and knelt down in front of a box under the table. He opened it to reveal leathers and furs, and only picked out two leathers before closing it and standing back up to hand them to her. "Now normally I would have you de-fur the pelts into leather, but that will be a long process for another time. Use these leathers, along with the other pieces, to make a hide helmet for me. Think you can do that?"

"A hide… helmet?" Summer had a blank expression of confusion, and as she tried to make sense of how to make something that simple, she only ended up drawing a blank. "Uhhh…"

"Is something wrong Summer?" Adrien asked as he stood from showing the girl the dagger.

"Uhm…"

"What's wrong lass?" Ralof asked with a bit concern and curiosity.

Summer was beginning to blush out of embarrassment while trying to avoid eye contact with everyone. She had been fascinated with weapons and how they were crafted and built, and almost her entire life, before becoming a full fledged Huntress, had been dedicated to creating old and new forms of weaponry imaginable. She never once bothered to learn any form of armor other than weapons. In fact, almost everyone never bothered to learn it, since they relied heavily on Aura as their armor and weapon against the Grimm threat. But now, with her Aura being sealed away, she had now come to realize her newest flaw.

"Guys?" She spoke. "Remember when I told you I made the axes myself? Well, you see, the truth is…," she pokes her fingers together, "forging and building weapons is my only specialty." She answered with guilt.

"Only weapons?" Alvor asked to his incredulous surprise.

"Yeah. I never considered knowing how to make armor because I thought it was boring, since I've always relied on my firepower and training. But now that I'm in a whole different situation…" She lowered her head in regret, letting the rest be understood, though she left out one small detail.

"You're saying you now feel regret for not taking the course." Adrien stated.

"Yes."

He hummed for only a moment. Then he turned his attention to the blacksmith. "Well Alvor, what do you think? Think you have the time to teach her?"

Summer was taken aback as she looked to Adrien in surprise. Deep down she thought she was going to be ridiculed, but she felt glad to be given a chance, if only Alvor approved though as she then looked to him.

Alvor thought for a moment to reflect on how much work he had to do, but only came up with a few, and there seemed to be no rush in finishing them right away. "I don't have much else to do today, so it wouldn't hurt to kill some time teaching. Are you okay with that Summer?"

"Yes," she said gladly, eager to branch out and learn more in order to survive. "Thank you so much."

"Think nothing of it, lass. I owe you two for saving my nephew's life, so allow me to return that favor even further for today."

"As much as I would like to watch, I think he and I got some things to do. I've got a delivery to make." Ralof said as he then turned to the knight next to him. He placed his hand on his shoulder. "How about you go and deliver the news to her yourself, I'm gonna go look for Faendal."

"All right," he shrugged, then he looked to Summer and Alvor before waving them off and following Ralof off the porch. "Have fun you two."

"Take care!" summer waved them farewell, and as they left, she returned her attention back to the blacksmith. "So, how do I start making a hide helmet?"

"I'll show you." He said as he gestured for the leathers. She gave both of the leathers to him and he went to the table and set them down. "First, here's what a hide helmet looks like, just to get an idea of what you're crafting." He picked up the hide helmet from the table and gave it to her to inspect. The helmet had the iron outlines to rivet the leather and keep it together, with the spikes lining the top. A riveted, triangular head plate looked made to protect from frontal blows to the forehead, and it had cheek guards on both sides that seemed to be placed backwards. The back of the helmet had rope lined studded leather covering the back of the neck for some protection. To her conclusion, it would not give that much protection due to the leather being more easily cut than iron, but she knew she had to not be picky about what she wanted to learn to forge.

"Okay, so the first thing I should do is work on the metal outline?" She guessed.

"Yes, but before you do that, you'll have to perform measurements to your head." He instructed.

"My head?" She questioned with a raised eyebrow, but it took her only a second to realize why as she raised both her eyebrows. "Oh! It's so the helmet can fit my head, correct?"

"That's correct, now…," he grabs hold of a tape measurement and gives it to her. "Can you measure yourself?"

* * *

While Ralof went to the sawmill to deliver the furs to the man named Faendal, Adrien went through the path up the hill to Gerdur's house. Once there, he spotted her tending to the crops.

"Gerdur, I'm back." He said, and the Nord woman looked up.

"Ah, it's good that you're in one piece…," but confusion and a hint of worry were etched onto her features due to the lack of someone else, "but where's Ralof?"

"He went to deliver the furs to Faendal." He explained. "He'll be back soon."

"Oh, I see. Thank you for keeping him safe." She said in relief as she walked up to him from her work. "So how's the mine? Though I can see dried blood on you."

"It's all cleared and the bandits are all dead," his features then turned forlorn, "but we have a problem."

"I don't like the sound of that," she warned as she crossed her arms. "What kind of problem is this?"

"Hold on." He knelt down and slung his backpack off him as he opened it up, and pulled out the journal he took and gave it to her. She grabbed the journal, opened it up and took her time reading through the contents. Her eyes widened with surprise at the shady deal between Falkreath and this tribe of bandits, but it also gave her concern learning there were more of them.

"This isn't good." She said as she shook her head in concern. "But what I don't get is why Falkreath would do something like this."

"Perhaps this was their quiet attempt at expansion?" He guessed. "It did say a noble from the hold made a deal with them."

"I have doubts about it." She rebutted. "The current Jarl is too lazy to make such an attempt like this. And we're in the middle of a Civil War, I doubt he would want to get mixed up in some territory war. Perhaps this could be the Thalmor's doing."

"Guess we'll never know, but right now we have a bigger concern with the bandit clan. If the clan they belong to comes to the mine for a visit, it could get messy."

"I have no doubt about it." Then she pondered on what to do for a bit before she came up with nothing. "What do you propose we do, Adrien?"

"I say we bury the entrance to the mine. There is already another entrance to it close by, so if we close off the other entrance, then hopefully the bandits will give up and turn back. If not…"

"Then the sooner the Jarl sends any spare guards by tomorrow, the better. As of right now, I should gather some volunteers to clean up the mine. Anything to expect?"

"Other than the dead bodies, there are a dozen pieces of armor and weapons, a food storage and a treasure room, and several iron ore veins as well."

"Ore veins?" She asked, taken aback after being a bit curious as to why he said a dozen weapons and armors. "I thought the mine was abandoned for a reason."

"I assumed it was dried up, but it looks like we were both wrong. Which brings me to ask of you. If the bandits don't come back, do you think it would be good to reopen the mine for business? I'm certain that Alvor would love to see that happen."

"Assuming the bandits don't come back, then perhaps I'll consider it. For now, let's focus on clearing things out. I'll go about gathering some volunteers."

"You can count me in," he volunteered, "I can go pick up Hadvar if he so wishes it."

"Whoever you pick I don't mind," she shrugged with nonchalance, "and thank you for offering yourself further."

He nodded, and the two went about gathering volunteers, starting with Ralof who had just come back from his delivery.

* * *

Dusk, 9:56 p.m.

Both parties had gone back to their respective homes to relax and rest up for the night after a hard day of work and hands-on education. After the dinners were made and eaten, and the food stained trays and utensils were cleaned and put away, they all just relaxed and chatted to each other, while others were playing games.

The hide helmet Summer had forged was okay (if a bit shoddy) on the first try but… She knew she had a long ways to go before she could perfect the art of forging protection. Other than that, she had spent the rest of her time learning much of what life in this province called Skyrim was like and how everything worked, all given to her by both Hod and Gerdur. Besides being a dangerous place to live in, where one must be strong, hardy and cunning to survive, at least their society wasn't as barbarous as people outside the province would say. Their laws were like an ancient feudal system, whereas individuals with a legal dispute would bring them to court with the Jarl, who acts as the keeper and judge of the law, and as for the simple rules of no stealing or murdering and so on, those problems would be resolved with the guards. She was a bit surprised there was no education system, and that it was up to the parents or legal guardians to educate them into their upbringing.

She had also learned how the provinces currency worked. The economy was run by use of three metal Septims, which are copper, silver, and gold. A copper Septim is the smallest of the three, and is worth 1 Septim. A silver Septim is the middle of the three, and is worth 25 Septims. The gold Septim is the largest, and is worth 100 Septims. To her unfortunate situation, her remaining lien meant nothing to their coin economy, so she considered herself flat broke.

Meanwhile, Summer was sitting at a table in front of two lit candle horns as she went about writing in her journal of today's adventure. She stopped mid sentence as she stifled a yawn, the feeling of tiredness coming onto her as she returned to her writing. Hod was reading a book to pass the time, while his wife watched Ralof and her son Frodnar play a game of King's Table on a wicker basket with interest. King's Table was nearly similar to chess but with a different set of rules, and the pieces were not set on opposing sides but had the dark pieces surrounding the white pieces on all four sides like an ambush. The objective to the game was simple: the player who controls the white pieces must protect the king to make sure he escapes off the board, all while the player who controls the dark pieces must try their best to trap and take out the player's king.

So far, Ralof had won two rounds while Frodnar had won four. They made a deal that, each time Frodnar wins, his uncle would tell him a story of his adventures in the Stormcloak rebellion, and if Ralof won, his nephew would have to tell a story of his time in Riverwood, which gave the adults in the room a few chuckles here and there. Right now, Ralof was struggling to keep his king from getting taken out by the dark pieces when he finally got blindsided by his nephew's next move.

"I take out your king, I win!" Frodnar said triumphantly.

"You don't look the type to strategize, brother." Gerdur giggled at her brother's losses while he groaned.

"Oh hush now, sister." Ralof snapped at her, then went with a frown when he realized the time. "Well, looks like we've stayed up long enough. It's time we went to bed."

"But uncle Ralof, can you tell me one more story? Please, please?" The boy pleaded.

"Okay, okay," he chuckled, "now let's see, hmm." He pondered through his memories as he stroked his braided beard until a memory from weeks ago dawned on him. "Ah! How about I tell you the time I killed a frost troll."

"Whoa, how did you do it?!" He asked in excitement of the story.

"Patience little nephew, I'll get to it." And then he began his story from weeks ago. The ladies giggled under their breath, and Summer had begun to think that maybe he was making up stories to entertain the boy. Yet a frost troll?

' _A frost troll,'_ Summer asked herself incredulously, ' _there's no such thing… unless it's a Grimm maybe. Do they have Grimm?'_ Now that she thought about it, she had not seen a single Grimm since they came out of that cave, and they only ran into real monsters, like the dragon and those Frostbite Spiders.

As she listened on, when he talked about traveling from a brutal battle with the Imperial legion to camping out in a snowy forest, the very word "travel" had made something click inside her mind, which reminded her with a quiet gasp that she wanted to look at a map to know where she was. It was something she had forgotten to do the entire day, much to her distraction.

"Oh that's right!" She exclaimed of the reminder, almost blowing out the candle and making Ralof to halt in his storytelling as they all looked to her curiously. "I forgot to look for a map!" She then looked at the family that suddenly started looking oddly at her, making her blush a little out of embarrassment. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but Gerdur, do you, by chance, have any maps I can look at?"

"I do happen to have two maps stored away, but why do you need them?" She asked.

"Oh, that's right," Ralof remembered cutting in, "you said you wanted to know where you are, correct?"

"That's right," she nodded.

"Then I'd be happy to lend them to you. I'll be right back." Gerdur got up and strolled to the far side of the home where a fur covered straw bed stood between two dresser drawers, and she opened the chest which was set on top of the longer dresser to the left. She dug and pushed around a few items before taking out the two rolled up maps that she was looking for and closed the chest. She then walked back to where Summer sat and placed them on the table. "Here you are."

"Thanks," she said gladly as she eagerly picked the closest one to the front and untied the string.

"Now let's see…" Her voice halted after she unfurled the map to reveal… she did not know what she was looking at.

' _What is this?'_ She looked intently at the map's ink drawn topography. There were mostly mountains, with names of territories and cities she obviously never heard of, and with the name at the bottom left corner which says "Province of Skyrim". This drew her into disbelief since there was nothing she could recognize. Plus, given the fact this was a province did not help much either. She rolled it back up and went to the next map, untying the string and unfurling it to reveal a much different location and topography. At first glance she thought she was looking at the map of an island, but given there were several named territories, she then looked at the bottom right to see the words "Continent of Tamriel".

"This is the continent?" She muttered skeptically.

Fortunately, the map had been given color (although rather faded), giving better detail to the landscape of Tamriel's provinces, like the tropics and deserts of both Elsweyr and Hammerfell, the thick wooded forests of Valenwood, the marshlands of Black Marsh, the dark ashen territory of Morrowind, the northern provinces of Skyrim and High Rock, the large islands to the lower left being called the Summerset Isles, and at the center of the continent, having both woods and grasslands, and having a small island at the center, was called Cyrodiil. This was no dragon shaped continent but a different continent entirely.

"What—n-no, this can't…," she muttered at the map, her mind trying in vain to go into denial of what she was looking at, and that deep down, a dreadful feeling grew. "Where's the dragon? Why isn't it…?"

"Summer? Are you all—"

"I need some fresh air!" She cut her off after no longer bearing to see the map, bolting up out her chair and went storming out the door.

Everyone was baffled into silence at what happened, and the only thing going through the rebel's mind was, "what the…"

* * *

Meanwhile, on the porch of Alvor's home

The stars were now out in their wondrous beauty. Adrien was outside in the cooler air, leaning against a log post as he went into contemplation. He was now wearing a belted tunic and dark trousers.

He had worked himself almost to the bone helping this village, wiping out the bandits and clearing the place out. They would be taking care of the far entrance tomorrow since the evening had come. Out of all the belongings taken from the dead, the weapons and armor gathered were surely enough to make both Alvor and the general merchant rich for a while longer. Other than the added food being kept for emergencies, things were beginning to look up for Riverwood.

But onto his planning. He had regained enough money to last a few months here in Skyrim, and more than enough to get himself what he needed to complete his mission, but he was without his uniform (armor), and without it he would be bringing shame to the knights of his Order. Another problem had come to the forefront of his mind about the black dragon. That monster had burned an entire town to the ground, and burned the legion guards without having so much as a scratch. As a knight, it has always been his duty to keep the people safe, and killing that dragon should be his priority, and although he swore to serve Bruma for a time and that the quest to find a body was his last job, he had made a promise to help Riverwood. He suppose he would be stuck here for a while it seemed.

Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by someone coming outside, and when the person stood beside him, he glanced to see that it was Hadvar.

"Peaceful night, isn't it?" Hadvar stated. He spent half the day at the sawmill before having to join in cleaning out the mine. Although Hod had given him a hard enough time due to his status as a legionnaire, the soldier ignored the resentment and continued working to earn enough money to get food and rent a carriage to Solitude.

"Yes, it is." When he asked Hadvar to volunteer and help clear out the mine with the others, he and Ralof argued against the idea of working together. After doing a bit of convincing, the two simply stayed out of each other's way as they worked.

A moment of silence lingered between the two of them, until Hadvar spoke again. "You know, you are rather capable of handling yourself well. I say you should join up with the legion, we could really use someone like you in bringing Skyrim back in order."

"Do you really think I should join the legion, even after what happened in Helgen?" He said evenly.

"Of course!" He sighed as he remembered. "I know… today wasn't the best introduction into the Legion, but I hope you can give us another chance. Skyrim can really use all the help she can get."

He hummed and thought about it for a moment. So he, too was trying to recruit him, giving him the notion that they were getting desperate to win this Civil War, but he was a knight sworn to remain neutral from all matters of politics and conflict, and would only answer to the emperor, and since the emperor had ordered them not to partake in the civil war, they had thus maintained their duties in Cyrodiil.

"I'll have to think about it." He answered. "Otherwise, I must maintain my orders and code as a Knight of my Order."

"I'm curious. You say you're a knight, but from what Order?"

"I'm from… hm?" He made to answer, but he halted when he heard someone familiar. "Summer?" He muttered, seeing Summer coming down the path from Gerdur's home. She sounded rather distraught or frustrated about something as she rambled on.

"No… no, this just can't be right. It can't be!" She rambled to herself as she kept her head lowered with her hands raised nearly to her head. They then saw Ralof following behind her, catching up to her it seemed.

"Summer, what's wrong?" Ralof called out, but she seemed to be ignoring him.

"What's going on?" Hadvar asked.

"I don't know, but let's find out." They went off the porch and soon joined up with Ralof as they went after Summer.

"Hey, Summer!" He called out to her. "Out for a midnight stroll?"

She halted in her tracks when she heard Adrien call out to her. She looked in their direction, still with that troubled expression when it suddenly changed. Then she started storming up to them, and she looked desperate for something while Ralof followed behind her.

"You two!" She asked with demand in her tone. "What is the name of this world? Is this Remnant?"

"No, this world is called Nirn," Adrien answered, unsure of what she was getting at, but that was not the answer she was looking for.

"No..." She narrowed her eyes at him in disbelief and shook her head as her frustration grew, pointing an accusing finger at him. "No, you're lying. You have to be!"

"Why would I lie to you?! This is what our world is called!"

"Bullshit!" She yelled in denial. "The geography is all wrong! It has to be…!" But then, she started to babble frantically. "But where is the dragon continent of Lantis and Mimar?! Why haven't I heard or seen any Grimm?! Why—"

"Summer!" He shouted abruptly at her as he grabbed both of her arms, all to make her stop and listen to him. "Calm! Down! Just pull yourself together and explain to me." He reasoned.

She was both equal parts scared and shocked of what he did, but she started to calm down. That, however, got her to thinking out loud of something else to rationalize her being here as she thought back to the portal.

"Maybe… maybe the portal sent me back in time," she muttered in desperate reason as she then softly laughed and started backing away from him, all while the three men were being baffled by her nonsense. "Yeah, I think I'm in the past. That totally explains it! I mean, all I have to do is look at the…" as soon as she turned to look in the direction of the rising (presumably) shattered moon, she froze. Her smile slowly faded away, being replaced with horror, and felt her eyes looking on in disbelief at what she was witnessing right now.

"Two moons?" She muttered, trembling in exasperation. "How are there two moons? Where's the shattered moon?" There were two moons rising from the mountainous landscape, and both were of obviously different size. One was large and reddish in color, and the other was small and lightly grey. Neither of them looked to be like the shattered moon that she always would recognize. "I don't understand." Tears were beginning to roll down from from her watery eyes, and her mind tried in vain to come to rationalize what she was seeing but it was all for naught. Her legs became weak enough that she buckled down onto her knees as she sobbed, then she fell on her hands. "I don't understand."

"Ralof, what did you do?!" Hadvar accusingly asked.

"I didn't do anything to her!" He argued defensively. "She asked to look at a couple maps and Gerdur gave them to her. Then she started looking confused and bolted out."

Summer was still on the ground crying in sorrow, realizing the dark reality of her situation when she felt a pair of arms wrapped around her. She was surprised a little at first, but she was gently pulled in for comfort and she did not resist, but even so she could not stop crying when she knew she was never going home.

Adrien looked up at the both of them as he rubbed her back to comfort her. The three men looked to each other for answers, but found they could not give a single explanation as to what it is, but in their hearts they felt sorrow for her. One thing was becoming more clear, and a question that had come up time and again.

Just who is she?

* * *

 **A/N: And the third chapter is finally done! After writing this long story and going through some re-editing to make sure it stayed well, I'm proud to say I've made a new "word count" record for myself.**

 **Now then, it looks like Summer has finally realized the horrible truth of where she ended up, and as a mother, it has become devastating for her. Will she be able to recover from that I wonder. Only the next chapter will let you find out.**

 **Onto the next topic which is the bandits of Embershard mine. Until recently I've started wondering why bandits would base themselves in an iron mine so close to Riverwood, so I figured I give these scumbags a reason for being there, and a good reason to kill them all. Hope you guys like the shady political move done by some thane in Falkreath that I made up, though there's something oddly fishy about that as well. Also, I came up with the idea of Riverwood opening up a mine, adding in more story and economic opportunity.**

 **As for the smithing, I chose to go into realism on this, because to make a pelt and turn it to leather, you would have to go pushing the fat and meat off the membrane of the skin, then eventually have it defurred and so on, and that takes days to get the process done. So yeah, Summer has a flaw in her smithing, whereas she doesn't know how to forge armor for the reasons above. She's gonna have to since her Aura is locked away by some magical seal in order to survive the harsh environment of Skyrim.**

 **Next is the coinage. We all know the light-as-a-feather gold Septim that you somehow have a pocket dimension on your person to carry all the gold you want, and that it tends to be everywhere, even in tombs and Dwemer ruins for some very odd reason. Well Crux and I had a lengthy discussion about that topic, and we came to the conclusion that, story wise, it just won't cut it. I can't imagine how an empire can run its economy on just gold coins, and realistically the weight of the coins, if calculating it as the size of a half dollar but being made of gold, and timing that weight with two hundred coins, it would make you wanna carry the large coin purse with two hands, and you'll be struggling. So if one did find a purse that magically has a pocket dimension to dump all your hard earned Septims in without a problem with weight and space, it would be considered an expensive luxury item, since Nords look down on magic with scorn. That's why we had decided to go for the trope of copper, silver, and gold coins to make things easier, and to make it work.**

 **One more thing, the game of King's Table is an actual, real life game made by the Vikings which is called Hnefatafl, which literally translates to the King's Table. I'd recommend you check it out if you're a Viking fan and want to know more about the game. You can even buy one online, complete with a guide on how to play the game.**

 **This is Kyro2009, signing off.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Before the Storm: Part 1

"Orgnar." The lady proprietor of the Sleeping Giant Inn said to the bartender, while said bartender did not turn to look in her direction, not even a glance. After two seconds went by without response, put her fists to her sides and raised her voice: "Orgnar! Are you listening to me?"

"Hard not to." He finally said while still keeping watch over the Inn and it's patrons.

"The ale's going bad." She expected a reaction from him at those words, but he still did not say anything for a longer moment. She walked up to him in annoyance. "Did you hear me?!"

"Yep, ale's going bad."

"I guess you don't have potatoes in your ears after all. Just make sure to get a new batch soon."

The Sleeping Giant Inn would usually get lively after dusk, with the usual customers being the village natives who had come for the usual drink and chat. Other customers were travelers who made a stop to rest up for the night. Sven the bard played a mellow tune to ease anyone's discomfort. All in all, it looked like it would be another peaceful night, and the only thing the bartender still had to look out for were the drunks who would want to start a brawl.

Except that the door opened to let in two more visitors, a man gently escorting a woman in mourning. Everyone went silent. Those two strangers were still relatively new to the natives of Riverwood, and since the civil war had taken a toll on the families everywhere, they assumed she was mourning a loved one, and quietly turned back to nursing their own drinks, pretending not to notice them as they walked on towards the counter.

The proprietor, however, looked at them curiously, as if they seemed familiar.

"Are you the owner here?" Adrien asked politely.

"I am, how can I help you?"

"Is there a room available? She's in mourning and would like to be by herself tonight."

"For ten coppers, it'll be hers for the whole night," she offered, secretly holding back the urge to question the woman's reason for mourning.

"Here." He grabbed the bag full of coppers and gave it to her. After helping half the villagers in clearing out the mine, he spent his time separating the coins into three separate purses to make things a little easier. After counting out the 130 coins he had obtained in his one day of survival, he counted 92 coppers, 33 silvers, and 5 gold. That made their worth at a total of 1,417 Septims.

She opened the bag and picked out the copper coins out loud, one by one until she acquired ten in total. "Alright, it's hers for the night. Right this way." She gave back the coin purse, and then proceeded to lead them to the room available. She pulled out the key for the room, unlocked the door, and opened it for them. "Let us know if you need anything."

"Thank you." He led Summer into the rented bedroom after thanking her and then closed the door behind them. The candle lit room had enough space to get around, having a dresser drawer, a table and chair, and a chest sitting at the foot of the straw bed covered in furs. She settled down onto the bed as he then sat next to her.

"Is there anything you need, Summer?" He asked kindly as he rubbed her back to comfort her. "Anything I can do?"

"I just want to be alone," she moped as she looked further away.

He sighed through his nostrils, knowing there was nothing he could do at this point. "Alright, I'll leave you alone." He got up and was about to leave the room, but he turned back around, untied the bag of coppers from his belt and set it on the table before he left. It was the least he could do to help her buy the food she needed. He closed the door behind him, only to be met with the proprietor with her arms crossed.

"So, did she lose someone?" She asked with sympathy, but with hidden suspicion.

"To be honest, I don't know," he answered truthfully, not enjoying her curiosity. "I first saw her walking down the street babbling about something, and then she starts breaking down in tears. She did say she was married, but that's all I know."

"I see." She said evenly, picking up that uncertain tone in his voice, but otherwise filed it away.

"Will you keep an eye on her for me, please?" He asked. "Just to make sure she doesn't do anything drastic?"

"I will, but first, I would like to know something."

"Alright, what is it that you wish to know?"

"I overheard that a tall Imperial mercenary cleared out a mine by Gerdur's request. I'm guessing you were the one who took care of Embershard mine?"

"Yes," he nodded.

"So you took care of it all by yourself?" A hint of admiration in her otherwise cool voice.

"I did most of the work, but I had help," he corrected himself. "Ralof came to help me with the rest."

"Hm, is that so? Still, it was generous of you to step in."

"I'm just doing my job, milady." He bowed his head once, appreciating the gratitude nonetheless.

"I should let you go then. Take care of yourself."

"Thanks, you, too." He walked away and soon out of the front door.

' _I get the feeling you're more than just some mere mercenary,'_ she thought with suspicion, but luckily not the kind that would warrant him as a threat.

* * *

Meanwhile

Just outside the inn, Ralof and Hadvar waited for Adrien to come back out. At this point the two opposing sides should have started arguing by now, but they remained silent with their heads down, as their thoughts lingered back to the incident that had taken place moments ago. They had no idea what she was talking about after storming out of the house and why she broke down after seeing the two moons. They wanted to feel sorry for her, but only if they understood why. They turned their heads to the sound of the front door opening to reveal only Adrien coming out.

"So, anything?" Ralof asked as the Imperial closed the door.

"I didn't want to push it." He answered as he sighed and shook his head. "She just wants to be left alone."

"That's probably for the best." Hadvar stated.

"I agree." Ralof said.

"Right, I believe we should turn ourselves in for the night, too. Hopefully she'll be calm enough by morning." Adrien suggested.

"All right, I'll go tell Gerdur that she won't be staying with us tonight." Ralof, while he was leaning against the railing, pushed himself off and walked back to the house without saying goodnight. Adrien and Hadvar looked at each other and nodded in agreement before heading back to the blacksmith's home. All they can hope for was for Summer to recover from whatever shock was ailing her.

* * *

Meanwhile, Summer continued to weep in her rented bedroom. The shocking realization of being in another world was bereaving, even more so to a mother of two daughters. She had kept all her hopes up, continued denying what her eyes were showing her until she got hit with the truth the hard way, right after seeing the map of Tamriel and seeing two whole moons. They were enough now to convince her that she would be trapped here forever. She did not know what to do now. She had nowhere else to go.

She soon crawled into bed, pulling one layer of fur as a blanket over her. She lay on her side with her back to the candlelight. She pulled from the folds of her clothes a folded piece of paper as she unfolded it to reveal a photo. It showed her with her husband Taiyang along with two little girls of different ages. The blonde girl standing in front of her father was Yang, being two years older than her half sister. The little dark red haired girl to her left was her half sister named Ruby, and she was shown being held by her birth mother. They looked so happy in that picture, but to Summer, it was downright cruel to watch.

"I'm never coming home." She sobbed and sniffed. "I won't be coming home at all. I'm so sorry."

She brought the photo tightly close to her chest as she continued to cry. Eventually, she cried herself to sleep.

Meanwhile, the Breton proprietor had her ear close to the door, listening to everything she said as best she could the whole time. She did this either out of curiosity or paranoia. Either or, what the poor woman said confused her.

"Is that really necessary, Delphine?" Orgnar said taking offense to her intrusion. She sighed as she backed away from the door and turned to her partner.

"I'm just being curious. Call it a hunch." She explained her actions dismissively. All she had in return was a grunt of disapproval from the bartender. "I'll be turning myself in tonight. Make sure to close the inn at midnight."

"Got it," he said with nonchalance.

After she went to the door to her room, she stopped and turned back to him. "And Orgnar?"

"Yeah?"

"If she wakes up before I do, tell her that breakfast is on the house."

"Gotcha." She opened the door to her room and closed behind her. Orgnar looked in the direction of the mourning woman's room before looking away and exhaling through his nostril in pity, and continued his watch over the inn.

* * *

Riverwood, 7:30 AM, Morndas, 18th of Last Seed, Year 4E 201

Summer fluttered open her eyes. She had a dream last night where she was reading a story to her daughters, then skipped to baking for them when an Ursa burst through the wall and little Yang punched its head off. The last part was weird to her. She carefully got up, but she felt something in her hand as she lifted it up to see the photo of her and her family. Her expression turned sorrowful as the memories of last night flooded back to her, and even when she looked around the darkened room, she knew she was still stuck in this world. She felt defeated just looking around her, and seeing those two moons would haunt her for the rest of her nights.

As if on autopilot, she lazily got her feet off the bed, only to hear her stomach growl. She sighed, her emotional state would want her to be left alone to her sorrow, but what would be the point of her starving herself? Before she attempted to go for the door, she remembered Adrien leaving something behind for her. She looked at the table next to her, and even in the dim lighting she could see the bag lying there before her. She picked it up and carried it as she soon opened the door. She was greeted to the sight of patrons almost silently eating their breakfasts and drinking their ales, if her nose was not playing tricks on her. She ignored the smells and went to the nearest table. She set the bag of coppers on the table while she sat down, and for a while her mind wandered until she heard coughing from her right.

"Good morning, miss," Orgnar greeted, although he could tell by her expression that her mind was far away. "What would you like to have?"

"What do you have?" She asked. Her voice was drained of all emotion.

He hummed in thought for a second before coming up with an idea. "How about a vegetable stew with bread and mead on the side?"

"That'll do." She did not seem to care what she would eat or drink at this point.

"All right," he shrugged, "coming right up." He walked away and went about preparing the meal as he went to work behind the bar counter. He had chopped up and gathered the ingredients before getting the small pot hanging over the fire. He poured in water, brought the ingredients and dumped them into the slowly heating pot.

In the meantime, Summer stared dejectedly at the table. Her mind simply was going blank while the aching pain of sadness continued to swirl within her. She did not pay any attention to what was going on all around her, even as time seemed to fly by until her state of being was interrupted again by the placement of a wooden tray containing a wooden bowl of vegetable soup and a half cut loaf of bread. Then a bottle of mead was placed behind the tray.

"Soup's done and ready," Orgnar said kindly in his rough voice. "And there's no need for payment, it's on the house. For what it's worth, you… have my condolences."

She turned her head a bit and glanced at him with a small hint confusion on her saddened features. Then she remembered Adrien being cryptic to the proprietor last night. She immediately understood why he did not say much, so she went with it and nodded to him. "Thank you."

He nodded back.

"Another bottle of mead, please!" One of the customers demanded.

He glanced at the customer and answered him. "Coming right up." He turned back to Summer. "Enjoy your meal." And then he left to continue his job.

Summer looked down at the soup bowl. To what she could tell it contained skinless diced potatoes, diced leeks, chopped cabbages, and from the red pasty color, she could see it also had finely chopped tomatoes within it. She guessed there could be more, but there was only one way to find out as she picked up the metal spoon, scooped up a spoonful, blew softly to cool it and had a taste. All those negative emotions had been forgotten by the surprising taste, which also contained of other vegetables such as onions and minced garlic, along with the flavorus herbs. She looked back down at the bowl and thought to herself; ' _this is not bad.'_

She took another, and then another. Her thoughts and negative emotions were being washed away as she took her time to savor every taste of this soup. It tasted decent yet new to her taste buds. The addition of the bread made the meal all the more appetizing, and the bread also tasted better by dipping its edges into the soup to add more flavor.. to her small discovery. Eventually the bowl was empty of its stew, and the loaf of bread had been nearly eaten, but with a sigh and a pat on her stomach, she was full and satisfied.

All she had to do was down the rest with a drink, but when she was just about to grab the bottle, she halted her hand when she remembered what that bottle contained. She was not a drinker, and she would go as far as to say she avoided them like the plague, but then suddenly the memories of her family came crawling back to her, and the feeling of despair, of being trapped and alone returned two fold. She wondered how they must feel right now, learning she was never coming home. Would they truly be devastated? Of course they would be. Her husband Tai would be even more so, that was for certain. He had already lost his first wife, but that circumstance was different. Her daughters were as precious as treasure to her, but how would they cope without her, especially her daughter Ruby? She was so young the last time she saw her. A saddening question had come to mind; when that little Rosebud grows up, would she still remember her mother?

She stared at that bottle of mead, and while her aching despair grew, a curious thought had come to the forefront of her mind. Would it really hurt to just take a drink of it? Maybe if she took a swig of it maybe the sadness and pain would all go away. Slowly, and unconsciously, she reached out for the bottle, yet her conscience was screaming at her not to drink it. She could hear herself breathe through her nostrils, and her fingers were just mere inches away from the dark glass beverage when…

"Good morning, Summer." Adrien greeted her.

She gasped softly as she recoiled her hand away from the bottle and turned her head left to see the Imperial knight still in his belted tunic and boots. "Oh… hi, Adrien," she greeted sullenly and looked away as she wrapped her arms over her abdomen.

"Are you all right?" He asked with concern as he sat down next to her. "You looked like you were about to take a swig."

"I thought about it." She replied somewhat dismissively.

He was unconvinced. The signs were there when he saw her hand reaching for that bottle, and now she was just going back to looking at it. He knew that look all too well.

"I'd rather you not drink that mead, Summer." He advised calmly.

"And why shouldn't I?" She asked in subtle sorrow.

"Because I have seen more than enough adventurers and soldiers who would down a drink to drown away their sorrows, only to keep taking more so the pain would stay away. But in the end the pain will still be there, and all that bottle will give you is a small comfort." That got her to tilt her head a bit and glance in his direction. "I know that look, Summer; you're in pain. Whatever it is, you should face it. But that bottle…" He casually reached out and took hold of the mead. She did not argue or resist as he took the bottle to his side. "...is not the answer."

"Then how?" She began to crack as the water had begun to build up. "There's no way I can go back now! I won't be able to see my husband and daughters again!" And then the tears began to roll down her cheeks once again. "I can never go home!"

"There's always a way." He reasoned as he reached out for her shoulder. "All we have to do is find the right map to your home continent of–"

"No, you don't understand!" She snapped at him as she raised her voice, just after she heard 'continent' which angered her. "My home is not on a continent! I'm not even from here!"

Everything went suddenly quiet, and Adrien looked at her with surprised confusion. "I don't understand. What do you mean?"

"Ugh, of course you won't understand, Nobody will!" She sighed with frustrated anger as she then stood up out of the seat. "Why do I even bother!?"

"Summer, wait!" She ignored him as she turned around and stormed back into her rented room before slamming it shut. He sighed, but then felt eyes going in his direction when he looked back to see everyone being equal parts confused and curious. He looked to the bartender who had the same expression, but the proprietor was giving the knight a hard look. She gestured with her head towards the rented room, silently telling him to solve the problem himself. He understood the message, stood up, and went to the rented room while ignoring all the stares. He opened the door, and saw Summer sitting on the edge of the bed, her head being buried in her hands as she wept again. He closed the door behind him for their privacy before speaking up. "Summer…"

"Go away." She warned weakly through her hands as she sniffed.

He sighed through his nostrils, wondering how in Oblivion it came to this. He had almost forgotten that she mentioned being spoken for, but he did not know she also had children. He would have to choose his words carefully if he were to save her from her depressing situation.

"You're right, Summer. Of course I don't understand, but as a knight, I still want to help you. I can't do it if you leave me in the dark." He reasoned diplomatically as he carefully walked up to her.

"But how? How are you going to help me? You wouldn't understand a word I say and won't believe me if I told you." She argued weakly as she looked up at him, showing her cheeks stained with tears once again.

"Summer, you fell from a Daedric portal out of nowhere. That does mean you came from somewhere. So go on…," he sat down beside her, "try me."

She was a little taken back by his insistence in wanting to know. So with a sigh –assuming he would not be backing down– and after collecting herself, she gave him her honest answer. "I'm not from Nirn. I'm from another world called Remnant."

"Remnant?" He wondered aloud as he held back his disbelief for curiosity's sake. "Why is your world named that way?"

"It's because we only have four remaining kingdoms, the only bastions of humanity standing against soulless monsters called Grimm."

"Soulless monsters…? You mean the undead?"

"No," she shook her head, "they're not what you people would perceive as the undead. They're more like demons without a soul, and they will seek and devour those who do have a soul. Their only goal is to see to our extinction, and to destroy everything we've built. That's where we come in. Us Huntsmen and Huntresses have been trained to dedicate our lives to protecting the people from the Grimm."

Adrien needed a moment to process what she explained. "Tell me more about these warriors. Are they like the Fighter's Guild?"

"A… Fighter's Guild?" She looked at him in confusion. "What is that?"

"The Fighters Guild is a professional organization made to regulate the hiring and training of mercenaries and skilled warriors. They will accept almost any contract that is suitable to the guild, such as wiping out a rat infestation, taking out troublesome bandits, delivering packages and so on. You may call it mercenary work, but the guild has been mostly successful in keeping the people safe."

"Are they an autonomous organization?"

He shook his head. "No, they are chartered by the emperor."

"I see. We Huntsman and Huntresses don't have a guild where I come from, but we do have combat schools and academies where they train them to become the best they can be. We don't have contracts, but we call them missions. They can be from protecting villages and caravans outside the kingdom, to bounty hunting criminals and to seek-and-destroying Grimm. We do get paid, but the responsibility comes first, and the pay second."

"Huh, interesting."

"So what's the verdict then? Do you believe me?" She waited for his answer, though she was not expecting anything out of this, though her thoughts did drift towards a negative outcome of disbelief. She watched Adrien go into thought as he rubbed his rugged chin. After a few moments, he then looked to her.

"I will be honest, it's hard for me to believe that you would come from another world or dimension." She sighed as she then looked down in defeat. "But…," she looked back up at him, a bit surprised that he was not finished. "Do you think you have any evidence to prove that?"

She did not expect him to start asking for proof, showing that he still wanted to believe her. Nonetheless, she thought back to what she carried with her throughout yesterday's trip, but it did not take long until her eyebrows went up.

"I… do have proof." She answered in remembrance and hope, but she also remembered where she left them. "But I left my satchel and clothes back in Gerdur's home." She turns back him address him. "I have a Scroll that I carried with me, it'll show you that I come from another world."

"Okay then," he nodded, "let's head to her place."

"Right, But first…" She stood up from the bed and walked passed him to the door as he followed behind. "I need some water." She opened it, but they did not expect to see Delphine standing right outside the door with a serious look in her eyes and her arms crossed.

"So, got everything settled?" She asked.

Summer nodded.

"Good." She was satisfied, but seeing that look in her eyes would tell her there was something else as she crossed her arms. "Now, is there something you need?"

"Yes, can I have a mug of water?"

* * *

Hadvar leaned against the railing, waiting for Adrien and Summer to come out of the inn. He had questions going around in his head, questions he would want answered the moment she came out. It did not take too long when he heard the front door opening. He turned his attention to see Summer being the first one coming out.

"Ah, Summer. How are you feeling?" He asked.

She halted in her tracks when she saw him, but then a thought occurred to her that perhaps Hadvar and Ralof deserved to know as well. "I'm still trying to get over it," she answered, "but not right now. I have something to show you three."

"What do you mean? Show what?"

"It's about where I'm from." She calmly stated almost cryptically as she walked down the main road. Hadvar looked to Adrien standing next to him, and the knight simply shrugged and gestured to follow her. Before she would come close to the intersection, Ralof appeared from the corner.

"Ah, good morning, Summer!" He greeted cheerfully. "Feeling better?"

"Not quite, but would you mind coming with me to Gerdur's place?" She kindly asked.

"Uh, sure, but why?"

"I want to show you all where I'm from." She answered cryptically. He looked to the other two, and Adrien again shrugged.

"... Okay, lead the way." He agreed with a raised brow in curious confusion. Summer then continued on up the path while Ralof followed behind, tagging alongside the other two men. "What's going on," He asked Adrien.

"I'll tell you when we get to Gerdur's." He answered.

Eventually, they made it to the thatch roofed house, and Summer opened the door and went right on through after instructing her friends to wait outside. Once inside, she looked around for her bag. The place was quiet now, only because the owners had already left for work, and the boy must be playing somewhere else perhaps. She thought back to where she left her things as she searched, and very soon she found her bag and weapons laying on top of a drawer. She opened the bag and rummaged through its contents until she felt the familiar texture of plastic and metal as she pulled it out to reveal her Scroll. This was what she was looking for. It contained all the proof she needed to show where she was from, for as they say; a picture can speak more than a thousand words. For further proof, she took out a jar of Fire Dust meant for starting fires and for her arrows. That way the truth would be irrefutable.

While she was here, she thought of how she would best present the truth about it. Obviously, she could talk about her world all day, but she soon asked herself if she had to tell all of it. There were a few things she could no longer use, such as Aura and Semblances, and even her silver eyes. If they ask her to demonstrate them, it would just be hopeless to activate her Semblance, and she believed using her silver eyes would amount to nothing. Showing the photos and Dust would just have to do, and if they start asking about her profession, she would just talk about the Huntsmen in general.

Meanwhile, Adrien and the others waited patiently (albeit eagerly) while she searched.

"So, mind telling us now what you two were talking about?" Hadvar asked.

"I'm sure you won't believe me if I told you, but Summer told me she's not from Nirn." He answered.

"Not from Nirn?!" Ralof looked at the knight with disbelief written on his face. "So you're saying she's from Oblivion after all?"

"No," he shook his head, "and I think we're about to find out."

The door soon opened and Summer came out with a spring in her step, holding what they see as a small strange device. It looked rectangular in shape with a bright yellow diamond shape in the middle.

"Okay, the proof I have is inside this." She gestured to the Scroll she held up in front of them to see as she stood two feet away from them.

"What is that?" Ralof asked.

"This is called a Scroll." She answered, but they're response was a look of confusion that almost equaled their curiosity.

"That doesn't look like a scroll to me," Adrien said skeptically, and the other two agreed.

To answer their question, she simply used action instead. "Okaaay… Observe." She clasped both sides of the Scroll, and pulled it apart to reveal a glass interface which then lit up, surprising them. They watched, now with undivided attention as she tapped at the photo icon. She had multiple pictures saved in her file, and she swiped through them until she found the map she was looking for. In case she was too far away from a signal tower, she took multiple pictures of the continents to get where she needed to be, and one picture of the world. She chose the latter and it expanded to cover the whole glass screen. She flipped her Scroll around and showed her world to them. "This map is the world of Remnant, my home world."

"This is your home?" Adrien wondered in awe while the others had almost the same reaction as they all looked closely, but like the knight, they, too were a bit skeptical of its geography. While a few continents and islands looked rather natural, there were two continents in particular that looked (to them) as unnatural.

"That landmass looks like a dragon," Ralof commented. "I'm not sure about the other… It looks like a wingless reptile."

The continents he was referring to were Mimar and Anima. While Anima, the home continent of the kingdom of Mistral, had the shape of a wingless dragon standing on a shaped rock; Mimar's dragon shaped continent had wings and looked to have breathed down a ball of fire.

"Are you sure this is legitimate?" Hadvar asked with skepticism.

"Yes," she nodded, "this is very much legitimate. This continent here…," she pointed to the largest continent set in the middle of the map, "is known as Sanus. It is the only place in which Vale and Vacuo are connected by land. Vale is my home kingdom in which I grew up." She pointed her finger at the mountainous landmass. Then she pointed at the snowy continent up north. "This here is known as Solitas, home to the kingdom of Atlas. Their civilization is the most technologically advanced out of all the four kingdoms. Here, we have Anima," she pointed at the wingless dragon continent. "This is where the kingdom of Mistral resides. They control the most territory than the others, and are known for their trade and having a diverse range of cultures. And then there's the desert kingdom of Vacuo." She moved her finger to the desert landmass of Sanus. "They're the least advanced, and their government is rather… marginal, giving the people a disregard for law and order. Of course, they live by the philosophy that anyone who is able to survive the harsh conditions of Vacuo is welcome to live amongst them."

"Huh, I'll bet the Redguards would fit right at home there." Adrien commented, then he looked at her with another question. "Is there more?"

She nodded affirmatively, and she turned her Scroll back around and brushed through a few photos until she picked one that would surprise them. She flipped it back around, and showed them a picture which left them… speechless. It was a picture of downtown Vale, with its architecture – though almost varied and square-ish in shape– being made of well-kept brick façades, and their strange lanterns seem to glow without any source of fuel to light them. Their were people dressed in clothes that one would mistake for upper and middle class men, but the strangest of all were these strange colored wagons on the street going by, not being pushed, pulled or mounted on for some reason.

"The architecture looks better than the Empire's." Adrien muttered in awe.

"I don't know what to say," Ralof said in exasperation. "Are those really wagons? How are they operated without a horse?"

"They're what we call cars." She explained. "They're operated by being inside them, so we no longer use horses to get where we need to be in town; we simply drive them. Of course, they're powered by lightning Dust, so they'll need recharging every once in a while."

"Wait, I remember you mentioned Dust before. Care to explain what it is exactly?"

"Of course. This, my friends, is Dust." She introduced as she pulled out a jar of Fire Dust. To them, it looked to be just a glass jar of shiny red powder.

"That's Dust? What's with the red powder?" The knight asked.

"Remember those arrows I used to set those creatures on fire with? This red powder is called Fire Dust. Dust is a naturally limited resource which have a variety of elements contained in crystals, such as fire, water, wind, lightning, earth, you name it. They're used in many ways to benefit our everyday lives, and they are used as ammunition for our weapons, much like my Fire Dust arrows. The powdered Dust is more volatile than their crystalline form of course, and that they should be handled with caution. Now I don't particularly use this one as a weapon per say, but it is useful for bombs and making campfires. Of course, I didn't bring any bombs with me at the time.

"Now, to show you how powerful it is with just a pinch of it; observe…" She closed her Scroll by pushing it down against her and put it away. Then she unscrewed the top of the jar and carefully took a pinch of the red substance. "Stand back everyone." They moved back a foot away from her, and she turned to a grassy spot opposite the garden behind her. She flicked it to the ground, and the pinch of Dust ignited easily on impact and exploded in fire, leaving a scorch mark on the earth and the others being shocked.

"Are you sure that's not magic?!" Adrien asked bewildered.

"It may seem like magic to you guys," she replied as she screwed the top back on, "but in my world, it's a natural, useful resource to my people. Even the Scroll I have is charged by a built in Lightning Dust battery." She then put the jar of Dust away, and looked directly at Adrien. "So what do you think? Do you believe me now?"

"After everything you've shown us…," Adrien said after giving himself a short moment of thought. "I believe you now."

"It's crazy, I'll say." Hadvar commented aloud in thought after recovering from the culture shock he witnessed, as he crossed his arms. "A white cloaked woman, coming from another realm or… dimension? I don't know where to even start." Summer could absolutely tell he had many more questions now than before, but it looked like he was holding them back. They all looked to Ralof since he stayed quiet and puzzled for the longest. "What about you, Ralof? You seem awfully quiet."

"I don't know what to say," he began. "There's just so much to take in after seeing those… paintings. But there is something that's bugging me. It's about that dragon continent and that large island just south of this… Animal or whatever. Do they have names?"

"Hm?" She raised an eyebrow to what he meant, but both of them quickly shot up when she realized in shame that she forgot to mention them. "Oh, that's right! I totally forgot about them!" She reopened her Scroll, and went back to the world map before spinning back to them. "The dragon continent he mentioned is called Mimar." She pointed her finger at the winged dragon. "There isn't really much to tell other than there used to be a kingdom, once upon a time, but smart lien says the whole kingdom had been wiped out by a horde of Grimm."

"Grimm?" Both Hadvar and Ralof asked.

"They're soulless monsters that are hellbent on humanity's destruction, and before you ask if they're undead, they're not. They have a variety of Grimm species depending on where you are, like werewolves, giant bears, armored boars, giant crows, gryphons, the list goes on. And believe me when I say that they are everywhere no matter where you travel."

"I see, and what about the island?" Ralof asked before Hadvar could get the chance to question further on the Grimm.

"The large island is called Menagerie. It's home to a race of humans known as the Faunus. They're human in appearance, but they have appendages of almost every creature in the animal kingdom. You could say they have a kingdom in their own right, but…"

"You were going to say that the humans in your world look down on them." Adrien guessed.

She nodded with a frown. "Yes."

"I wouldn't be surprised, considering Skyrim's reputation." Hadvar commented as he directed that comment to Ralof, who huffed in return.

"So, these Faunus folk," Ralof questioned further when a curious thought had come to mind. "They're like the Argonians and Khajiit, yeah?" He asked unsure.

"I've never heard of those," she answered in confusion. "What are they?"

"The khajiit are the catfolk that hail from Elsweyr," Hadvar began, butting-in before Ralof could comment about them, making him grumble about it. "You'll easily tell by their heads, fur and tails, but they do have the bodies of humans sort of, but going by that description is more complicated than that. The argonians, of course, are the lizardfolk from Blackmarsh. They look reptilian, with horns, tail and all, but they are sentient."

"Hmm… no, the Faunus are not like them, kind of. Like I said, they're human in appearance, but they have the appendages of creatures from almost all walks of life."

"Ah, okay… I guess." He still felt uncomfortable about the answer.

"I was going to ask you something before Ralof interrupted," Hadvar said, finally getting the chance to ask. "You said 'hellbent on humanity's destruction', why say that? Are they like the Daedra?" He asked, and even that got the rebel's attention as well and listened intently.

"Well you could call them demons if you wish it, but truth be told, we don't know why they want us all gone from Remnant. As far as we know, we've been attacked by them since the day mankind was born from dust. The only thing keeping them in check and at bay is us Huntsman and Huntresses. We're trained from a young age to become humanity's guardians, so we aim to become the best we can be." Although she intentionally left out one detail of herself.

"Whoa, you Vale people are a warrior society?" Ralof asked.

"Well, we are, kind of. Some of us come from a long line of warriors and heroes, and others just feel the urge of wanting adventure for whatever reason. In truth, there's really not too many of us in Vale, because only the best and determined can become Huntsman."

"I'll bet the training and education must be harsh, and I can understand the reason for it." Adrien complimented in understanding. He, too, had gone through harsh training in order to survive and get to where he earned his place now as a knight. The titles and gear he earned were never given to him on a silver platter, and he thanked both his lucky stars and his teacher getting him this far. There was, however, something he wanted know. "Do you Huntsman work in teams or by yourselves?"

"Often we work in teams when the job demands it, but there are those of us who are strong enough to handle the Grimm on their own. And I am one of those who can do both, simply because I love to help in any way I can." She answered the last part with a bit of pride.

"Your family must truly be proud of your dedication." Hadvar commented.

"Well I do have to. I have two daughters who look up to me." She smiled at those memories. "You know, it's good to talk about my home and all but…" Her expression suddenly turned sad as her head went lower. "You all have a home to go back to, and my home… is not here. So what would be…?" She started muttering to herself then, thinking back to the fact she was never going back. The three men, who had now learned of her true identity, had no answer to her current problem, and could only look to her in condolence. Adrien, on the other hand, had his gears turning in his head for a solution to keep her hopes up. It did not take long to come up with the obvious answer that was right in front of him, but had to have one thing confirmed.

"Summer," he started, "when you fell into that portal, what was the last thing you heard or saw? Was there someone there?"

Summer thought back to that night before falling into this world. "I remember being surrounded by Grimm… And then I saw the portal beneath my feet before falling in. I… think I remember someone laughing before it closed?"

"That about answers it. Someone had cast a powerful spell to send you here, and since it's magic that brought you here, it's magic that will send you back."

"Magic?" She asked more to herself than to him. She would have been skeptical of the whole concept of magic had she not learned about the power of her silver eyes through her mother, but that still did not count for everything she knew of her world, and there was no sign of magic anywhere as far as she knew. However, looking back at the event in Helgen, witnessing a real dragon and seeing those men in hoods shooting fireballs without a device or Semblance, and also recounting Ralof's adventures had her believing that perhaps she really was living in a real fantasy world. Although hope had started welling within her, she was still skeptical of magic. "But magic is considered a fairytale where I live. There's no way a wizard would pop out of nowhere and send me straight to this place, unless…"

"Unless some god in your world sent you here, maybe?" Ralof suggested.

"We do have a pantheon of Gods we worship in our world, by I don't know if they're even responsible for sending me here."

"Sometimes you mustn't question the gods. Maybe they sent you here for a reason."

"We'll have to see." She dismissed. There had to be no doubt that someone with magical power or a Semblance had sent her here, either intentionally or by mistake. But to have the gods be involved in her situation would be like finding a needle of truth in a haystack. She never openly questioned the church, but there were times when she doubted the existence of gods due to her experience in life. "So, any wizard I should talk to?"

"Wizard? You mean an arch mage?" Adrien guessed. "I would suggest going to the academy in the Imperial city, but that place runs more on politicking than learning the arts. They would rather question your legitimacy and use you to their own ends."

"Skyrim has a mages college up in Winterhold," Hadvar suggested, "but the Hold is northeast from here; that's Stormcloak territory. Worse, the climate is drastically cold, only a Nord can survive such harsh weather. Without the proper gear," he said to the both of them, "you'll freeze to death."

"Well, lucky for us, we're on neither side," Adrien commented. "Once we get enough money, we can get the winter gear we need to head further north. Sorry you two, I will not be joining the war."

Hadvar sighed in quiet defeat. "I understand. Still, the door is still open to both of you."

"And so is our door." Ralof countered. "Though I highly recommend you join us instead of those stuck ups." Hadvar growled under his breath when he narrowed his eyes at him.

"We appreciate the offer," Summer thanked, "but can you guys do one favor for me?"

"Sure," they all agreed.

"Could you please not tell anyone about this? I'd rather not get any unwanted attention."

"I understand where you're coming from, we're the only people who truly know your origins." Hadvar said. "Your secret's safe with us."

The other men nodded in agreement, but something important had come up in her memory which had her turning to Adrien. "Hold on, what about your mission?"

"I will finish the mission when I get the chance. That is still my reason for being here. For now, you and I have a priority of sending word to Jarl Balgruuf."

"I was going to say that," she nodded, "the people's safety comes first."

"Looks like we all will be heading out, then." Ralof concluded. "I'll start gathering my things, then."

"As should I." Hadvar stated as all four of them went to their homes. "We meet up at the gate?" He asked Adrien.

"Yes." He answered.

* * *

With all their armor, gear and supplies gathered and ready to go, the four were at the gate, along with Hadvar and Ralof's families to see them off.

"Can't you stay a little longer, cousin Hadvar?" The little girl whined.

"Sorry, but duty calls, and I'm sure the general is expecting me back. I'll be sure to send you a letter, ok?"

"Ok!" She smiled happily at the promise. She pretty much knew full well he would make it back to Solitude in one piece.

"Are you sure this'll be enough for the journey?" Gerdur asked with concern.

"Gerdur, I'm certain they'll be enough," Ralof answered for the second time. "Even if I run out, I'm a good hunter."

"Just be sure to send me a letter when you reach Windhelm."

"I promise I will."

"I want to thank you both for what you've done for our village, and for giving me the time to teach." Alvor thanked.

"It was no problem," Adrien stated, "just following my duties as a knight."

"I'm glad I've learned a thing or two from you, good sir." Summer thanked back.

"Remember; just follow the signs. They'll lead you to Whiterun." Sigrid reminded them.

"Dragonsreach being the Jarl's palace, got it." She understood.

"Alright, it's time we head out then." Adrien announced, and the four companions made their goodbyes to the families as they went to the bridge.

"Adrien! Summer! You're always welcome in Riverwood!" Gerdur called out.

"Thank you!" Summer called back gladly as they walked across the bridge. They all followed the path that went partly up the mountain, but soon took them further and further down till they were next to the bottom of a waterfall. They were now able to see from a long distance; Whiterun.

There were farmsteads on the outskirts of its walls, but the walls themselves looked ancient and far behind in maintenance. They could see a few makeshift towers made from wood built upon where the towers used to be. Behind the walls, they could just make out seeing homes and shops in a bustling community. That was called the Plains district. The next level was called the Wind district. This district looked to be containing mostly homes, a temple dedicated to Kynareth, and a mead hall. They could just see a large, leafless tree on that level. Then last, but not least, above all the levels was the Cloud district, and built there was the palace known as Dragonsreach. It looked to be an impressive display of architecture, truly fit for a Jarl.

After spending nearly an hour on foot down the road, they eventually made it to a crossroads next to a bridge, and it was here they were to part ways.

"Well, looks like this is it." Ralof said.

"It was good having known you, Ralof." Adrien said.

"It was good meeting you both. Besides, you've given me a tale to tell the boys back in Windhelm."

"Just don't tell them about my secret, please?" Summer reminded and asked.

"Don't worry about it, I'm certain they won't believe me if I told them. Your secret's safe."

"Thanks."

"And Hadvar…" The legionnaire hummed in question as he looked to the rebel looking back in seriousness. "It seems today our little truce is over. If we meet again…" He let the rest be unsaid in understanding.

"I know, and it has been the longest peace I've had with my enemy. May you die with an axe in your hand, Ralof."

"You, too. So long, everyone." After saying his farewell, he went to the bridge that would lead him onto the road to Windhelm, as the others waved to him. Summer felt a sadness within her to see them end their treaty, just to one day kill each other the next. They went left down the path to Whiterun's outskirts, just about going by a meadery called Honningbrew when she finally let out what troubled her. "I hate war."

"Believe me, Summer, we all do." Hadvar replied. "Sadly, we don't have a say in these matters. This war has to end, no matter what."

"You sound adamant that you must."

"I am, and we have to win. Ulfric doesn't understand that in order to survive, the empire must stay strong. The division will only make us weak."

"It's because of the Aldmeri Dominion that we all must stay vigilant for another war," Adrien added.

"Do your knights get involved in war?"

"Not this time. Although we're stationed next to Skingrad and we're owned by the count, it is through the orders of the emperor that we will not be joining."

"I believe your knights would've turned the tide faster in our favor." Hadvar commented.

"Perhaps, but we're—"

They suddenly felt a rumbling vibration in the ground beneath their feet, forcing them to stop.

"You all felt that, right?" Summer asked with caution. Then seconds after silently listening, another vibration, and the sound of a baritonal roar resounded in the distance ahead of them. They could see, from a distance, a silhouette of a tall person wielding a branch-like club as it furiously brought it down, causing another shake to the earth.

"That's a giant!" Hadvar answered. "It must be attacking someone!"

"Then they'll need our aid, let's go!" Adrien ordered as they started running off the road to get a better view. They now had the full view of the fight, as the giant was trying to kill three people who clearly looked armed. There was a Nord man in steel armor, wielding a large steel greatsword with incredible strength while fighting alongside him was a dark haired Nord woman in studded armor, who looked to be a fresh recruit judging from the steel axe and iron round shield she used to fight the giant. Away from them, a red haired Nord woman in lighter Nordic armor was using a hunting bow as she fired arrow after arrow at its back, hoping to weaken and get its attention, but the giant's hide was too tough for the arrows to pierce through.

"I know them! They're the Companions!" Hadvar answered while they ran. "They don't look to be doing well!"

"Summer, take out that club!" Adrien ordered immediately as he pulled out his iron greatsword. "Hadvar, take out your bow!"

"Got it!" She pulled out her axes, clamped the ends and transformed them into a bow before pulling out her transforming arrow, knocked it, pulled it back, aimed for the right moment for the club to rise, and released.

* * *

Meanwhile, the three companions were struggling to take down this enraged giant. They had underestimated the stubbornness, toughness and ferocity of what he could do, and now the two who were fighting the giant up close were fighting more to survive than to take it down. Each time they tried to go for the legs, he would anticipate the attack and back up, just to deliver a sweep of his club at the offenders in retaliation. The redhead was doing her best to weaken it, even tried to hit the joints behind his knees, but the damned giant's legs were a moving target, and she was no crackshot. The arrows were harming him, if only in irritation. The dark haired woman waited for the opportunity, and when her shield brother went for his legs again and got his attention, she took that moment of distraction and went after the kneecap with a sprint.

The Nord man blocked it, and with enough strength he shoved the offending club away. He may have the strength of Ysgramor, but a giant's strength was nothing to laugh at. He was then punched in his guard by the giant's fist and went crashing into a fence. He tried to ignore the pain and struggled to get back up, but widened his eyes in fear when he saw his new shield sister running towards the giant's knee with her axe raised. The giant, to her misfortune, heard her coming.

"Ria, look out!" He desperately called out, but was too late when the giant kicked her into a fence, now dazed and in pain. The giant fully turned to her. The redhead's quiver was empty and she pulled out her dagger to save her. The Nord man desperately got up to and raced to rescue her as the giant raised his club into the air…

What they all did not expect was an arrow coming from out of nowhere and destroying the club in a fiery explosion. Burned shrapnel flew everywhere, and the giant looked to his now useless club in confusion when…

An armored warrior ran up the rocky ramp, jumped into the air with his greatsword pulled back and pointed forward, and with a roar he rammed the blade through the giant's back, the right lung, and to the front. The force of the impact pushed the giant forward in a stagger, and he groaned in pain as Adrien planted his feet against the giant's backside and pulled out his sword as he crashed to the ground. Seriously wounded and angrier than ever, the giant turned to the newcomer with fury in its eyes.

Adrien and the Nord man, with renewed vigor, fought against the giant, slashing at his arms and dodging his swipes and blows. Meanwhile, the giant was being pelted by arrows again, and this time from a familiar legionnaire. Another arrow exploded at his front, giving him a scorched burn mark on his chest and pushing him back by the force. The giant had become sluggish now from the blood loss, and just when they thought the giant was going to have his second wind, he never had the chance when Ria and the redhead went behind the giant and mightily hacked and stabbed at the back joints of his knees, making him buckle to his wounded knees and fell forward. This was their chance as they both ran up under him and thrust their greatswords upwards through his chest, ending the giant in his death throes. He was dead weight heavy, but thanks to both strong men, they moved the body to lay on its side with ease, and then both of them pulled out their swords. The battle was over.

"Thanks for the help," said the Nord man as he laid the steel greatsword against his shoulder.

"It's no problem, pleasure to help."

"You handled yourself well." He turned to see the redhead walk up to him. "But I can already tell that you're not the one who was using those arrows."

"That was us, ma'am!" The redhead turned to the direction of the voice to see a woman wearing a black outfit and a white cloak jogging up to them. She carried a strange mechanical bow, making her think it was Dwemer. The other man going alongside her was familiar.

"So, you were the one who shot those explosive arrows?" She questioned with her arms crossed. Summer nodded. "I would be more impressed if the arrows weren't enchanted. But nonetheless, I want to thank you for saving our newest shield sister."

"It was no problem, ma'am. I'm glad I was able to help in time."

"I appreciate your sincerity." Then she looked in Hadvar's direction. "It's been a while, Hadvar. Have you finally quit the legion to join us?"

"Not by a long shot, Aela." He answered. "I'm still fighting for the Empire."

"Hmph, still fighting alongside a bunch of milk drinkers. At least I tried, but you two…" She referred to Summer and Adrien. "You both could make for decent shield siblings."

"Shield siblings?" Summer questioned.

"Ever heard of the Companions? An order of warriors. We are brothers and sisters in honor. And we show up to solve problems if the coin is good enough."

"Sorry, I've never heard of this order. I'm an outsider, you see."

"You do seem to stand out, that's for sure. And what about you, stranger? Judging from your armor, I'd say you're a mercenary."

"I hail from Cyrodill, but I'm no mercenary. It's a long story."

"Perhaps one I would like to hear someday, if you're willing to join."

"The offer is tempting, but we have official business with the Jarl. It's important we meet with him. It concerns the safety of Riverwood."

Meanwhile, as the two were conversing, Summer was visually examining the dead giant now that everything had calmed. Obviously he was a really tall humanoid with pale skin, naturally built muscles and a long blackish beard. The markings on his skin were tribal, and the clothes he wore were made with leather and fur, with the hanging dried bones of a beast she had no clue of. It was clear that this humanoid had such a level of intelligence even in combat, but what she could not understand was why the giant would attack a farm. The only one who hopefully had the answers was standing in front of her.

"Riverwood's in dire need of the Jarl's aid? Then this must be serious. I guess you should be on your way, then. We'll handle things from here."

"That would be best."

"Before we go…," Summer spoke and got her attention. "Why was the giant attacking the farmhouse?"

"Actually, this giant was stealing and eating the farmers livestock. My best guess is that he failed to deliver the intended offering on time, and he paid the price for it."

Now this was getting somewhere. "Do all giants normally threaten people?"

"Not all of them, and it's not often a giant would come raiding out of nowhere either." She answered with a shrug. "They mostly keep to themselves as nomads, so they don't bother us as long as we don't bother them. But since farmers outside the city would want to keep their farmhouse intact, they would make peace offerings of cows to the giants once every year. To them, it works nearly every time, as long as they keep bringing them on time."

Now she was puzzled. "You make it sound like the giants are extorting you."

"Not really. We've been doing this for centuries. You can call it an unspoken understanding."

"Have you thought of trying to scare him off?" When Aela narrowed her eyes at her, she recoiled a bit. "Um, just asking."

"Our first plan _was_ to scare him off, but that didn't work out in the end, did it?" She directed the question towards the guilty Ria.

"Sorry, I thought that by wounding him, he would run away."

"Now you know better this time." Then she turned back to the three. "I want to thank you three for saving our shield sister by the way. I'm certain we'll meet again." Adrien nodded, and the two followed out of the premise. Aela turned to her companions. "All right, you two, let's get this giant away from the farmhouse."

While the three got to work on dragging the dead giant, the other three soon had their feet back on the cobbled road to Whiterun. They were now close to the city's ill maintained walls, and it would not be too long until they reached the front entrance. Up ahead, they could see a horse and carriage, with a Nordic man at the front seat still holding the reins. Hadvar eyed the carriage, and once they were close enough, he coughed into his closed fist to get their attention. "This is it. I'll be taking the carriage back to Solitude."

"I wish you luck, soldier." Adrien bid farewell.

"You, too, sir knight. Both of you." With his goodbye, Hadvar left the group and went walking towards the carriage. They watched for a moment before they moved on, but something within Summer's mind clicked in, making her stop and turn back to the soldier.

"Hadvar, wait." The soldier was just about to speak to the carriage driver when he heard her voice, and hummed in question as he turned to face her. "Ralof said you had a girlfriend living in Whiterun, right?"

"Of course."

"Well, shouldn't this be your opportunity to go see her?"

"Perhaps, but my duty to the empire should come–"

"Hadvar…," she sighed as her tone turned serious and crossed her arms, "how long has it been since you last met her?"

He paused for a moment to think back. "... Three months. It's been three months since I last saw her. Though we do send each other letters from time to time."

"That may be good and all, but I think it wouldn't hurt to tell her in person you're okay, would it?"

Hadvar paused, struggling with himself. Fond memories and a sense of longing were starting to swell within him. It took him a moment, and after looking at the entrance ahead, he looked back down at Summer with a sigh. "I guess you're right. Besides, it would be nice to see her face again."

"I'm certain the general will understand." Adrien added.

The Nord legionnaire nodded, then turned back to the carriage driver. "I'll come back later."

"I'll be here when you get back." The driver replied kindly.

"Thanks." With that said, the three proceeded on past the stables and through the front entrance. The path inclined upward and curved, and when they reached the curve, they were met, off the side of the path, a band of cat people that have already set up camp. Just like what Hadvar had explained to her, they had the fur, heads, ears, and tails of cats, but mostly had the bodies of humans.

' _Those must be the Khajiit he spoke of. They don't come close to looking like the Faunus I know of.'_ Summer commented in wonder as they walked by. However, she still had an important message to deliver, so she mentally shoved her curiosity away. ' _As much as I would want to play twenty questions, there's no telling when that dragon comes back.'_

After continuing up the path, and taking another turn, they finally made it to the main gate. There were two guards standing watch from either side of the gate. The armor they wore consisted of leather boots, a shirt and chainmail, and leather scale armor worn over it. They had a yellow garb loosely wrapped around their neck all the way down to their right hip, and was tied down with leather belts. They wore helmets which covered their entire face, and one could hardly see through the two openings to see their eyes looking right back at them. They each held a shield emblazoned with the painting of a horse's head. They all walked toward the gate, thinking they would pass through without trouble, but were proven wrong when the guard walked down to them.

"Halt!" The guard commanded. "The city gate is closed with the dragon about. Official business only."

"That's why we're here." Adrien replied. "Riverwood is calling for the Jarl's aid."

"Riverwood's in danger too?" The guard was surprised. "You better come on in then."

"Hold it." The other guard said as he walked down from his post. "What about this imperial soldier? Why is he here?" He asked with suspicion.

"I came from the massacre of Helgen, sir." Hadvar answered.

"You were from Helgen?! How is it that you're still alive?" He was surprised, but still had doubts as his arms crossed. "I heard the legion guards had been wiped out over there."

"I don't think there are any other survivors. And that is why we must warn him of just how dangerous this dragon is."

The two guards looked at each other, looking for an answer. Then he looked to the other two. "Are you two with him?"

"Yes, and I can vouch for his survival." said Adrien in his defense. "In fact, we were all there when the dragon attacked. That's why we need to see the Jarl to warn him of Riverwood's plight."

After some hesitation, the guard gave in. "Alright, fine. You all can head on through. Just head to the jarl's palace, understood?"

They all nodded in agreement. The guard went back to his post while the other unlocked the gate and opened it for them, then went back to his post as well. They all went through the gate and into a short tunnel.

"Thanks, I guess I owe you again." Hadvar thanked.

"There's no need to owe me anything." He kindly turned down. "Just happy to help."

They were out of the tunnel and crossing the bridge which stood over the sewage creek. Beyond them, the place was rather marvelous to behold up close, looking more modernized than the homes of Riverwood.

"We'll pay whatever it takes. But we must have more swords for the Imperial soldiers." They walked on the middle of the bridge as they watched a nord man wearing light legion armor making demands to a woman. Judging by the black apron she wore, she was a blacksmith.

"I just can't fill an order that size on my own," she argued. "Why don't you swallow that stubborn pride of yours and ask Eorlund Gray-Mane for help?"

"Ha! I'd sooner bend my knee to Ulfric Stormcloak. Besides, Gray-Mane would never make steel for the Legion."

She sighed. "Have it your way. I'll take the job, but don't expect a miracle."

With their deal done, they parted ways. The blacksmith went back to her forge built next to the shop while the Nord legionnaire went further into the city.

"Is he gonna be a problem, Hadvar?" Summer asked.

"Not really." He replied. "He ranks lower than me, so I'll be fine."

"All right, let's get going then." Adrien said, they walked past the smith's shop and up the hill to the city's market square. The square had almost everything a citizen would want. There was a general goods store and a potion shop to their right, and an inn that was straight ahead of them. The square also was lined with stalls selling from jewelry and pottery, to meat and vegetables. Yet that was not what Hadvar laid his eyes on.

There was a woman standing in front of a vegetable stall, with her right hand rubbing under her chin in thought of what to choose. She was a beauty, having pale skin and a dark brown bobbed hair. She wore a commoner's bright blue dress with a leather corset wrapped around her stomach, and dark shoes almost hidden underneath her long skirt. But he knew her all too well.

"Ysolda." He called to her.

The Nordic brunette gasped, turning her head in his direction as her eyes then widened with surprise, then turned to joy.

"Hadvar!" She said with joyous relief in her tone as she ran up to him, held each other in their arms and met their lips in a loving kiss that lasted six seconds. "I've missed you." She said as they laid their foreheads against each other.

"I missed you, too." Hadvar replied.

"So, are you on leave from the legion?" She asked, voicing her hopes.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not on leave." He answered somewhat sadly as he shook his head.

His answered confused her, and her moment of happiness evaporated. "What do you mean? What's going on?"

looking at her expression had made him feel terrible when he had to tell her. "Me and my friends are here to inform the Jarl about the state of Helgen."

"Helgen…?" She wondered. "I overheard that Helgen was destroyed by a dragon of all things..." But then her eyes widened when she put the pieces together. "You were at Helgen?!"

"Yes, and I don't think I would have survived if not for these two." He gestured to the two warriors who were staying silent, save for Summer who waved her hand at her in greeting. "I owe them my life."

"Thank you both so much for keeping him safe for me," she said with utmost sincerity as she turned to them with her right hand on her chest and her other behind his back, while Hadvar had one arm wrapped around her waist. "But I don't think we've been introduced yet. My name is Ysolda."

"I am Adrien Artorius."

"I'm Summer Rose, nice to meetcha."

"It's nice to meet you, too." She giggled at Summer's choice of words. Then she looked back to her lover with a sad smile, but with a look which said she understood. "I guess it's time you went to the Jarl."

"Don't worry, I'll be back soon." He reassured.

"I'll hold you to it." She replied lovingly. He let go of her with a pang of guilt, and soon rejoined them.

The three companions headed up the steps and were now in the Wind district. This was where most of the homes were located. At the center, surrounded by running water and connected via stone bridges, stood a large tree, but it looked to be rather dead, leaving Adrien and Summer to be curious as to why. Hadvar was saddened by the death of this iconic tree, but he too was curious.

' _What happened to the Gildergreen while I was gone?'_ Hadvar wondered, but the companions' thoughts were interrupted by the ranting of a man coming from beyond the dead tree. They walked past the tree, and saw he was a priest in orange and yellow robes standing in front of a statue of a warrior standing triumphantly atop a serpent, with his sword held in both hands down its throat.

"Talos the mighty! Talos the unerring! Talos the unassailable! To you we give praise!

We are but maggots, writhing in the filth of our own corruption! While you have ascended from the dung of mortality, and now walk among the stars!

But you were once man! Aye! And as man, you said, "Let me show you the power of Talos Stormcrown, born of the North, where my breath is long winter. I breathe now, in royalty, and reshape this land which is mine. I do this for you, Red Legions, for I love you."

Aye, love. Love! Even as man, great Talos cherished us. For he saw in us, in each of us, the future of Skyrim! The future of Tamriel!"

The priest continued his sermon loudly with fanaticism, and each word bothered the soldier until he shut the words from his ears. "Nothing good would come of it." He spat. "Come on, let's get to the palace."

They started to head in that direction, but Summer continued to listen as they walked by, not just out of curiosity, but out of pity. She remembered the story told from Hod and Gerdur, about how weak and shameful the Empire became after surrendering to the Aldmeri Dominion, and that the banning of Talos, the ninth divine they worshipped so reverently, was the last straw. The light of rebellion which set off this powder keg was Ulfric's murder of High King Torygg. She understood a war of ideologies, but a civil war over religion? She stated it once and she would state it again; she hated war in all its bloody form, hence the reason why she would never partake in it.

Higher and higher they went to the Cloud District, and once they reached the top and crossed the bridge, they were finally at the front doors to Dragonsreach.

"So how do we do this?" Summer asked almost nervously. "I've never dealt with royalty before."

"It shouldn't be too difficult. Just follow my lead, and be respectful to the Jarl." Hadvar advised.

She nodded, though a bit unsurely. The Nord soldier went ahead and, with some effort due to the size of the doors, pushed them open, and they all headed on through to see the Jarl.

Adrien: 92 coppers + 33 silvers + 5 gold = 130 Coins = 1,417 Septims

92 coppers - 10 = 82 coppers

Adrien: 82 coppers + 33 silvers + 5 gold = 120 Coins = 1,407 Septims

* * *

 **About time this was done, I did not know where to end this. It took me quite a while to write them down just right, especially Summer's situation and how she recovered. What was most daunting was her giving her secret to the three, and also the fight and aftermath with the giant. I had to rewrite a few paragraphs to make them fit right. Hopefully I did them well.**

 **About Hadvar and Ralof, I hope it was okay to keep them around a little longer, especially with Hadvar. I felt the need to give them that character and companionship build-up, since in the game you hardly know them enough.**

 **What do you think of Hadvar being paired with Ysolda? I know that making a female OC character would've been preferred, but I did not feel like putting much effort into it. I know what you're going to say; Ysolda secretly made dealings with a drug dealer. I'm planning to have that resolved someday.**

 **As always, shoutout goes to CruxMDQ for his proofreading and editing.**

 **This is Kyro2009, signing off.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Before the Storm, Part 2, Preparations

The interior of Dragonsreach was wooden yet spacious and two stories tall, and to the eyes of both Summer and Adrien, a work of great nordic craftsmanship, but the Huntress and the knight did not give themselves much time to study their surroundings as they both went straight towards the steps with a purpose, even as they felt the guards watching them in scrutiny. As they walked, they noticed that the place was poorly lit. Perhaps, in their minds, the reason this palace was illuminated enough was from the sun shining in through the tall windows. Their nostrils suddenly sniffed in burnt wood as they went up the steps, and once they got to the top, however, the next level answered their question to what they would guess to be a feasting hall, illuminated more by the stretched hearth fire that was flanked by two long decorated tables.

And at the end of the feasting hall sat the Jarl himself, sitting on his throne being flanked by two individuals: to his right stood a balding man in nobleman's clothes who bore all the marks of an advisor, and to his left a grey-skinned woman with a combed back head of red hair and clad in leather armor stood guard, her left hand resting casually on the pommel of her sword as her merciless eyes observed the unfolding meeting. The Jarl looked to have blond hair and a short beard, wearing a regalia fit for a man of high nobility, and he sounded to be in an argument.

"My lord. Please. You have to listen. I only counsel caution. We cannot afford to act rashly in times like these. If the news from Helgen is true... well, there's no telling what it means," the advisor cautioned, though he sounded unsure of himself.

"Then what would you have me do, then? Nothing?!" He asked angrily.

"That's the Jarl," Hadvar stated. "Do as I say and follow my lead."

"Maybe we should wait until they're done?" Summer suggested unsure.

"No," Hadvar denied, "it'll take too long. We should go and speak to him."

"Who are they, then?" Jarl Balgruuf asked when he noticed the three standing at the other end. Apparently they would not need to wait for him after all.

On cue, the grey-skinned bodyguard noticed them as well and came to them with her sword drawn with intimidating caution. Her sword looked to be glowing and shimmering, much to Summer's quiet surprise and growing curiosity. They soon met halfway, right next to the long fire hearth. Now that they were close enough, they could make out more of her features more clearly from the flame's illumination. She had crimson red eyes which were now narrowed at them, and her ears were pointed, giving Summer the indication that she was an elf. A dark elf perhaps?

"What's the meaning of this interruption?" The dark elf bodyguard asked with threatening suspicion. "Jarl Balgruuf is not receiving visitors."

"Alvor sent us. Riverwood is in danger," Adrien answered.

"As Housecarl, my job is to deal with all the dangers that threaten the Jarl or his people. So you have my attention. Now, explain yourself."

"A dragon has destroyed Helgen," he said simply.

"You know about Helgen?" She asked with surprise. Even the name had caught the Jarl's attention. "The Jarl will want to speak to you three personally. Approach," she commanded after sheathing her sword and headed back to the Jarl's side. They followed up the short steps, and now stood face to face with the Jarl.

"We kneel." Hadvar told them, and they followed his example as they went down on one knee and bowed their heads. "An honor to see you, lord Balgruuf." He announced respectfully to the Jarl.

"Please, rise." He said, and they all stood back up. "So. You three were at Helgen. Did you see this dragon with your own eyes?"

"Yes, my Jarl." Hadvar started. "We were about to execute Ulfric Stormcloak and his top lieutenants, but that's when the dragon appeared."

"This dragon came out of nowhere and attacked Helgen unprovoked." Adrien said. "It was black as night and almost as big as a mountain, bringing fire and death."

"The legion tried to fight it," Summer was next, "but its scales were impenetrable. No fireball or arrows could harm it. Heck, I even tried to hurt it with my arrows, but all I did was piss it off!"

"Where did you last see it?" The Jarl asked.

"Last we saw, it was headed this way."

"By Ysmir, Irileth was right… This is troubling indeed." Balgruuf said to himself. "I should've guessed Ulfric would be mixed up in this too.

"What do you say now, Proventus?" He asked his advisor. "Shall we continue to trust in the strength of our walls? Against a dragon?"

"My lord," Irileth spoke, "we should send troops to Riverwood at once. It's in the most immediate danger, if that dragon is lurking in the mountains–"

"The Jarl of Falkreath will view that as a provocation!" Proventus interrupted. "He'll assume we're preparing to join Ulfric's side and attack him! We should not…"

"Enough!" The Jarl silenced him. "I'll not stand idly by while a dragon burns my Hold and slaughters my people!" He declared, then he turned his attention to his housecarl. "Irileth, send a detachment to Riverwood at once."

"Yes, my Jarl." She saluted with a fist to her chest and left.

"If you'll excuse me, I'll return to my duties." Proventus excused himself in defeat.

"That would be best." With that taken care of, and with his demeanor returned to normal, he turned his focus back to the three ragtag strangers still standing before him. "Well done. You three sought me out, on your own initiative. You've done Whiterun a service, and I won't forget it. For this, I believe you should all be rewarded. Brother…," he called out to the Nord leaning against the wall on the far left of the hall, someone the three had never noticed this whole time up until now.

He was tall like any Nord. He looked built with red warpaint on his face, had a tied beard and a shaved head. He wore scaled armor made mostly from leather, with pieces of iron decorating it and having one large decorated, circular piece at the center of his chest held in place by large leather straps. The armor also had the horned skull of a creature, neither Summer nor Adrien could identify, placed on his left shoulder guard. They also noticed he had a greatsword strapped to his back. "Yes, my lord?"

"Please see to it these three have a token from the armory that you believe they deserve most," he ordered.

"As you wish, Jarl." He placed his fist on his chest before heading off into the kitchen. Several minutes later, he came back out with three items of value in his arms as he approached the three and handed them each an item of his choosing.

"Here, take these as a small token of my esteem." The Jarl said.

Summer was given steel Nordic gauntlets, and though they looked a little bigger than her wrists, she saw that the straps were adjustable. So she slipped her right hand through the opening. When her hand went all the way through one end, and her fingers just in full view out the other, she noticed that the gloves were larger in width in both the wrist and hand by about half an inch, but the thumb was fine, same as her fingers but with too much room. She tried clenching her fingers into a fist, and they were only a tiny bit restricted given the glove's size, but it seemed fine enough for her to pull a string and okay to hold a weapon. Then she got to work on the straps, and she tightened them enough to keep the gauntlets firmly in place, but not too tight to block blood circulation. After that, she got to work slipping on the other one.

Adrien was given a steel sword, and although he would prefer to use his iron greatsword hanging behind his back, it was good to use it as a backup weapon as he tied it to the belt at his right hip, just so as to not have two weapons clanging with each other.

Hadvar was given a hunting bow, luckily guessed to replace the wooden bow he acquired.

"There is another thing you could do for me. Suitable for those of your particular talents, perhaps. Come, let's go find Farengar, my court wizard. He's been looking into a matter related to these dragons and... rumors of dragons."

"As much as I would like to help further, I must respectfully back down from this." Hadvar kindly refused. "My duty to the legion comes first, and I must return to them soon."

"I understand," The Jarl accepted. "Still, it is good that you came to me with this news. I won't forget it. Safe travels to Solitude, my friend." Hadvar nodded in thanks as he brought his fist to his chest and then walked away. Then the Jarl turned his attention to the remaining two strangers.

"All right, you two, let's go see my court wizard, then." He got up off his throne and went right (to their perspective), with the two following behind him. They went to the doorless entrance on the right side of the feast hall, but before they entered, Summer suddenly overheard a little girl arguing with a boy. So she turned her head curiously to where it was happening. They looked like royalty to some capacity, so they must be brother and sister.

"I'm so angry, I can hardly stand it! Father promised me a new dress days ago, now where is it?" The brown haired girl was demanding in frustration.

"It takes a while to make a dress, Dagny. You have to be patient," her brother explained.

"But I don't want to be patient! I want my dress right now! Father promised!"

"All you ever do is complain about what you want. You're a spoiled baby," he spat back.

"I'm going to tell father you said that. He'll tan your hide for sure!"

' _What's wrong with this girl,'_ Summer thought with incredulity as her features wrinkled with disgust at the girl. Her stepdaughter Yang would never demand much, but this girl, on the other hand, was spoiled on another level, having her think where her mother was.

She tore her eyes away from the children and focused on the room she went into, and what they saw there could be best described as an organized mess, candles placed in certain areas dimly lighting the room and giving it an eerie atmosphere, the weak light coming in through the windows only enhancing that sensation. There were two tables connecting to each other and a small wardrobe placed against the end of the table, with their tops covered in ancient maps, several books stacked atop one another with one left open, and a display stand arrayed with potions. There was a plate and goblet, evidenced having a recent meal with chicken bones left behind. Then at the back had an alchemy lab, which was something Summer had seen before back at the Sleeping Giant inn, and another table which they could not see since the man they had been lead to see stood over it.

"Farengar, I think I've found some who can help you with your dragon project. Go ahead and fill them in with all the details." The Jarl told him, and the man, Farengar Secret-fire, stepped away from the strange table and turned to meet two strangers standing beside the Jarl. Not wasting an opportunity, he walked up to them.

"So the Jarl thinks you two can be of use to me? Oh yes, he must be referring to my research into the dragons. Yes, I could use someone to fetch something for me. Well, when I say fetch, I really mean delve into a dangerous ruin in search of an ancient stone tablet that may or may not actually be there."

"What does this stone tablet have to do with dragons?" She asked, and even the knight nodded, thinking the same thing.

"Ah, no mere brute mercenary, but a thinker - perhaps even a scholar? You see, when the stories of dragons began to circulate, many dismissed them as mere fantasies, rumors. Impossibilities. One sure mark of a fool is to dismiss anything that falls outside his experience as being impossible. But I began to search for information about dragons - where had they gone all those years ago? And where were they coming from?"

"So what do we need to do?" Adrien asked.

"I ah, learned of a certain stone tablet said to be housed in Bleak Falls Barrow - a "Dragonstone," said to contain a map of dragon burial sites. Go to Bleak Falls Barrow, find this tablet - no doubt interred in the main chamber - and bring it to me. Simplicity itself."

"... And how did you come to know where it is?" He asked with a raised brow.

"Well. Must preserve some professional secrets, mustn't we?" He dodged it as he crossed his arms. "I have my sources… Reliable sources."

He hummed with suspicion, but knew he would not get anywhere with it, so he changed the subject to learn other details. "Alright, so what do you know about this Bleak Falls Barrow?"

"An old tomb, built by the ancient Nords, perhaps dating back to the dragon war itself. Ah. Maybe you just want to know how to get there. It's near Riverwood, a miserable little village a few miles south of here. I'm sure some of the locals can point you in the right direction once you get there."

"This is a priority now. Anything we can use to fight this dragon, or dragons. We need it, quickly. Before it's too late." Jarl Balgruuf cut in.

"Of course, Jarl Balgruuf. You seem to have found me two able assistants. I'm sure they will prove most useful."

Then the Jarl turned to the two quest takers. "Succeed at this, and you'll be rewarded. Whiterun will be in your debt."

The two looked at each other. Summer nodded her head in eagerness, but Adrien was conflicted inside. He was hoping that after they delivered their message and fulfilled Riverwood's plea for aid, he would then be able to help Summer return home and then return to fulfilling his quest, but taking on more jobs was not what he had in mind. Still, he was a knight, and although he was ordered not to get involved with the war, at least he did not say to avoid helping a Jarl standing on neutral ground. What harm could there be in doing one more? The knight looked back at the Jarl. "We won't let you down, lord Balgruuf."

He nodded. "May the Divines watch over your battles." Then he turned around and went back to his throne.

Meanwhile, Adrien and Summer were still in the court wizard's room when the former turned to him. "Before we head off, there is something I could use your enchantment expertise in." Looking mildly curious, he continued. "I have three enchanted items I picked up from an abandoned mine. I could use your help in identifying them, if you would, please."

"Okay, what did you get?"

The knight unslung his backpack, set it on the table, opened it up and rummaged through it as he pulled out the three enchanted items in question. He set them down one-at-a-time: a ring, a dagger, and the gauntlets. All three of them were glowing in different colors, and as Farengar picked up the ring, Summer looked at them from where she stood with wondrous curiosity at the glowing items.

The mage hummed as he examined it, but after a few seconds, he recognized what the ring was enchanted as. "Ah, this is a ring of minor spell resistance. It's merely of minor use against attacks from novice level spells, but it's useless against stronger levels of magic."

"Well, it's better than nothing. So it's a keeper, then," he shrugged.

He put the ring back down and carefully picked up the dagger next, but was simply unimpressed with its creation. "Hmm… this is a dagger of draining. It can be useful to drain a novice mage of his magicka, but other than that it's just useless."

Adrien hummed in slight disappointment and conflict. Daggers were meant to be used for a number of things, including to have yourself be very up close to your enemy. He was no assassin, and his skill to throw a knife was something he picked up during his time as a fighters guild member. There was just the problem that the chances of missing could prove troublesome. What if he threw the enchanted dagger at the mage to drain their power, and they had the instinct to dodge its trajectory? So he decided it was not worth its use and planned to sell it when he had the chance.

The last item the court wizard picked up were the enchanted gauntlets. To their surprise, this one did not take long for him to realize what the enchantment was.

"Ah, this must be the gauntlets of alchemy," he declared with a positive vibe. "True it has a weak enchantment, but it's very useful for when you want to create better potions." Then he turned his head to the knight with a glint in his eyes which showed he wanted this item. "You know, gauntlets like these could help me in my experiments. What's your price?"

"Hmm," he thought for a moment. "How about one gold Septim and they're all yours."

"Heheh, it's a deal," he chuckled, then he pulled out one gold coin from his pocket, flicked the coin to him, and the knight caught it as he put the coin in his pocket; a transaction complete. Satisfied with the buy, the mage went back to his usual self. "So, will there be anything else?"

"That's all I need," he replied as he put on the enchanted ring and put the dagger back in his backpack. He closed and re-tied the cover, then slung the backpack back on.

"Good, now off you go then. That stone tablet isn't going to find itself. And if you'll excuse me, I'll be working on my studies."

They were somewhat off-put by his attitude, but nonetheless, they left his room and strode to the front door. A new quest was laid before them, and for the both of them, it was a task that could be seen as just another stepping stone on their respective journey. But… neither the knight nor the Huntress knew what fate had in store for them.

* * *

The large doors to Dragonsreach were opened up by the knight as the two walked out into the cool air once again. Summer, meanwhile, was feeling a little giddy at the prospect of her first given quest in a real fantasy world, and began to think of the possibilities she would be running into. Adrien, on the other hand, was making a list of preparations for heading up to Bleakfalls Barrow. Last he remembered, the barrow was settled in a mountain covered in snow, so buying wool capes and heavier clothing for himself and his companion would have to be on the list. The journey to and from the barrow would only require the necessary supplies needed for getting to and back from the ancient ruin for now. As they went across the bridge, he looked down at Summer, and he could just see past the hood to see her smiling about something. At least she was not being homesick, at least he thought. "A Septim for your thoughts?"

"Hm?" His question pulled her out of her daydream as she looked up at him. "Oh, I'm just a little excited about having my first quest."

"First quest?" He raised a brow. "I thought you've been on plenty of monster hunting quests before."

"Those are called missions, and like I said, hunting Grimm and protecting villages is simply part of the job description of a Huntress. We do get some odd jobs here and there, I'll admit, but it's really nothing like a quest."

"But I'll bet those missions do leave stories to tell."

She smiled in admittance. "That they do."

As they walked down the steps, he changed the subject when he noticed her gauntlets. "Do those gauntlets fit you?"

"Yeah, I've tightened the straps to make them fit," she explained, "though I still have a bit of an issue with the fingerless gloves being too big in width." She showed him what she meant by presenting her gauntleted hand and spread her fingers to prove her point. "I don't necessarily have a problem with the weight of the plates. I can feel the weight, but I know it won't be enough to hinder me for a while."

"Excuse me." They both stopped and turned to see a guard standing a few steps below them.

"Sorry," Summer apologized. The two stepped off to the side to let him pass.

"Thank you," the guard said as he went past them.

"You said for a while," Adrien said, returning to the topic. "At least you'll be getting the exercise."

"Yeah, I'm just trying to remind myself of my mortality," she said with honesty and a somber tone. "I made sure to stay physically fit, but I realize I've taken my Aura for granted for a long time. It's going to take some getting used to."

"I understand what you mean," Adrien nodded in understanding. "But think of it this way; at least you're giving yourself more strength over time, but don't try to strain yourself too much."

"Of course." She nodded as she understood.

"Come on. Let's head down to the marketplace and get what we need." Again she nodded, and the two went down the steps, through the Sky district and into the market square of the plains district.

Their first priority was to buy up the necessary supplies they need, and since food and ingredients was on the list and since the stalls were set up around the square, they were not going to be their first stop since they would need a bigger bag for them. So their first stop was the general goods store stationed across the square next to the alchemist's shop, also known as Belethor's General Goods. He opened the door and they went inside…

"Take a good look around. I'm…" The Breton shopkeeper Belethor himself welcomed them when he realized they were new faces. "Ah, some new faces! Welcome to my general goods." He spread his arms out halfway in renewed greeting with a business smile. "I've got everything you need in one place, so I'm sure you'll find what you're looking for. If not, let me know, I might have it stored away."

And indeed he had _a lot_ for them to browse around. Beside them to their right, the walls were lined with shelves and console tables having an assortment of clothes, books, household clutter and decorations, and even a barrel full of weapons. To their left, there were even more items to look at. The console table also had clothes and footwear, but next to that, there was a shelf containing various cloaks and gear. The table next to the shelf had armor pieces and a rack having weapons and shields, and another barrel full of weapons. Beyond that, the rest of the interior had shelves and tables having tools and other useful items. There were two shelves separate from them, each lined with kitchenware and utensils. As for the counter where Belethor was, it had shelves to his right containing some potions and recipes, and to his left had a display with jewelry. In front under the counter had baskets of fruits and vegetables. Summer would be awed by all the options, but her silver eyes were staying focused on the weapons as she walked to them to examine each of them.

"Would you happen to have any backpacks in stock?" Adrien asked, the reason being because his adventurers experience tells him he would need a bigger bag for the supplies he would need, and not to mention more room for gathering treasure.

"Sure do. They're right where the cloak rack is, between the clothes and the armor pieces," he replied as he pointed out with his finger.

"Thank you." He nodded in thanks and went to where the cloaks were hung.

Meanwhile, Summer zeroed in on a particular sword, with its greenish pommel shining under the light, sticking out among the steel weapons in the barrel. Being careful, she grabbed the handle and pulled it out, and was instantly in both awe and intrigue of this exotic sword as she inspected it with both hands. The handle was a work of art in the way it was chiseled and how it curved out as a guard, with hardly any trace of hammer marks. The color of the metal points to being brass to her guess, which could help explain how the handle and guard were done. But what stood out the most was the pommel and blade itself. The only way she could describe the design was by comparing it to a feather, and to her amazement, she could almost see her hand under the blade, leading her to guess that this double-edged blade could be made of thick glass. It could probably explain how razor sharp it was when she looked down the edge, and the sword was surprisingly lightweight. Yet this discovery added more questions for her.

"It's beautiful…," she muttered in exasperation.

"And it's a one-of-a-kind item," Belethor stated after seeing her inspecting the glass sword. "It's a much better upgrade than the steel weaponry like the rest of the Nords use."

"I'll bet it must be worth a fortune, so I'll pass," she turned down the offer. "But do tell me; is this sword really made of glass?"

"It is," he nodded, "but it's not just any glass. What you're looking at is a blade made from refined malachite. It's much tougher than the brittle, regular glass you see on windows, but to what I've heard, it's tougher to make, too. It takes a special kind of smith to craft them, not sure how it's done."

"So malachite being tougher than regular glass, huh…?" She was thinking out loud as she looked back down at the glass sword. ' _Malachite in my world was a mineral used to produce copper. It's not really important today, and in fact, I only see malachite being used for jewelry and art. I guess maybe this mineral is different from what I know.'_ Then she suddenly had another question concerning another part of the sword. "Then what about the handle and guard? They're made of brass, right?"

"The handle and guard?" He raised a brow, then he shook his head. "Nah, you must be mistaking them for moonstone. That's what it's made out of."

"Moonstone?" She looked puzzled at the name. "As in from one of the moons?"

"Heh, one would wish, but no, it's not. They get the name because the ore looks like that of Secunda. It has a yellow-cream appearance to 'em, and what's strange is that it's not really a metal, but it can be refined by smelting it."

"That is rather strange," she agreed but with skepticism.

"I'll buy this," Adrien said before Belethor could start convincing her to buy it. While the two were having their conversation on the glass sword, Adrien was comparing the unpaid backpack to the one he picked up yesterday. They were the same in make and design, but fortunately it was larger with more compartments, and it also looked brand new. This knapsack suited him fine with being able to carry more items.

"All right, but may I ask why? You seem to already have one yourself, and it looks to be in fine condition too."

"I figured I'd go for more room," he shrugged.

"Aaah," he mused, "and that also means you'll be buying more than just that bag, am I right?" He got a nod in response, and continued with a smile: "Well whatever you want, I got what you need. And lucky for you, everything is on sale."

"Everything is on sale?" She asked in befuddlement.

"That's right. Everything's for sale, my friends! Everything! If I had a sister, I'd sell her in a second!" He jokingly declared, but Summer did not get the sarcastic joke as she looked appalled by what he would do. Belethor noticed her reaction and corrected her. "That was a joke, Miss."

"Oh!" She laughed somewhat with an embarrassed smile as she rubbed the back of her covered neck and looked the other way.

"Some people just don't understand my humor sometimes," he muttered to himself, then he turned his attention back to the knight. "How about I hold onto that backpack while you shop around?"

"Sure." He handed over the bag to him, and then he returned to browsing around with the mental list in his head. But then he halted when he figured he could use some help, so he turned his attention to Summer looking back at him. "I could use an extra hand if you don't mind."

"Sure, what do you need?"

"We'll need dinner utensils, almost two of each," he said.

"Got it." She already knew where to look as she strode to the two shelves of dishes, pots and utensils. She first grabbed a wooden plate, then she started gathering two of each one. Two wooden bowls, two basic plates, two of each iron utensils, a cutting knife, a wooden ladle, and a medium sized cast-iron pot with a handle. Seeing all the utensils she gathered reminded her of the times she cooked delicious meals and baked cookies… but thinking about them made her frown and feel somewhat down and depressed.

"Summer." Adrien broke her out of those thoughts as she turned to see him being next to the table of tools at the other side of the store. He had gathered three torches, a flint and steel (fire striker), and an unused whetstone when he saw her looking down at the kitchen items. Then a thought occurred to him about her choice of clothing since there were clothing options available. "Does your outfit keep you warm?"

She looked down at her clothes and assessed a bit. Then she felt like having a metaphorical sweatdrop when she was reminded that she could longer use her Aura to protect her from both attacks and the elements. "W-well, this outfit was made for aesthetics, you see. I'll be honest, it does keep me somewhat comfortable in cool weather conditions… but not so well when it gets colder." It was uncomfortable for her to admit it.

"I see…," he looked at her for a minute, eyeing her up and down which made her feel a little uncomfortable until he gave his answer. "I'd suggest you wear something warmer like a wool shirt and trousers. Also, let's have you start off with leather armor. It's not as cheap as, let's say, hide armor, but it's thick enough to stop slashes, and can be resistant enough against arrows."

"Oh." She looked at the rows of clothing on the console tables, but she did not know which was which from where she stood. Plus she quietly groaned as she saw that none of the clothes would match her outfit. Belethor noticed her assumed indecision and helped her.

"Each of the outer clothing is made from wool, but I'd recommend the table to the left," he pointed out.

"Oh-uh, Thanks." She walked over to the counter and placed the tray of kitchen items before heading over to the console table. The few color options these wool tunics had did not sit well with her taste, and, it was hard to tell but she noticed them looking to have been worn before. There was one tunic, however, which somehow caught her eyes as she moved over to it. The wool was mottled grey in color, having stylized in Nordic embroidery running along the edges of the cuffs, neckline and bottom hem. She unfolded and held the tunic up to her level, then placed it against herself to examine its size and length, but it was obvious from the start that it was too big for her. So she folded the tunic back before replacing it. She checked to see if it had a name tag, though she should have thought of doing that first beforehand to her hidden mistake. Upon inspection, there was no tag but a letter sown into the fabric with the letter 'L' meaning large. She inspected the other tunics under it, and luckily for her, there was one small size tunic that was just for her as she repeated the process and placed it against herself to examine it. She looked down at her raised right arm and saw that the sleeve only reached past her elbow, but at least the cuffs were wide enough to give her no trouble. She then slid her hand down to the hem of the tunic, and learned that the hem stopped past her hips.

This tunic may not be in black or white, but this was the closest thing to being warm.

"I think I'll take this one," she concluded to herself as she folded the tunic back up, placed it under her right arm, and kneeled down to browse the lower shelf containing wool trousers. One of them was darker than the mottled grey tunic, and after finding the right size for her as she unfolded the piece of clothing and pressed it against her waist, she lifted her right leg up to show that it was, quite luckily, her size. After folding that one back up and making a small stack of her own under her arm, she soon grabbed a belt to help keep her trousers up.

Meanwhile, Adrien had placed the items he gathered onto the counter and went back to grab more. He picked up two bedrolls, two water skins, and a wool cape for himself. Since his hands were half full, he inspected the chest piece of the leather armor placed on the table, but soon realized the armor was large, practically made for a big Nord if the signs of wear were any indication. So it was too big for her to wear.

"Belethor," he asked as he turned to face him, "would you happen to have leather armor made for her size?"

"That one's too large for her?" He asked with a raised brow, but as he looked in her direction, he began to see why, but he still asked, hoping that he would get him to buy it. "Sure she hasn't tried it on yet?"

"Trust me when I say I know it won't fit her," he protested.

"Is it really that big?" Summer asked.

He would make his point after placing the items on the counter and went back to the armor pieces. He used both hands to grab hold of the leather armor and lifted it up to show the comparison between himself and the armor. Her eyes widened a bit and her brows were raised, not even bothering to require mental measurements that it would be too bulky for her.

"Okay, good point," she concluded.

Adrien set the leather armor back down and looked at the shopkeeper. "So, is there any?"

Belethor tried to think back as he rubbed his chin, though he was groaning inside for his failure to trick him into buying it. Only problem was that he had so many items in inventory that he could not keep track of all of them, though he would not admit it out loud. "I'll have my assistant Sigurd check the stores to see if we have one… once he gets back from gathering wood, of course." Suddenly the front door opened to reveal a young nord man, and Belethor smirked. "Well, speak of the Daedra."

"What is it, sir?" Sigurd asked with four chopped logs in his arms.

"I need you to check the inventory and see if we have leather armor fit for the lady here." He thumbed at Summer - holding a stack of clothes on her hand - in her direction. The young nord only took a few seconds to look at her before giving his reply.

"Sure thing, sir. I'll get right on it." He strode across the room, went behind the counter and placed the chopped logs down, and went into the back entrance to inventory.

"I sort of wondered whether you worked alone or not," Summer commented as she placed the clothes onto the counter.

"It'd be stupid not to on account of running a pawnshop like this," he explained and revealed what her hunch was; that the store was not exactly a general goods store, but a store run by a pawnbroker.

"I figured 'General Goods' was too good to be true. I noticed some clothes looked like they were worn before."

"People have been buying and selling wares to me all the time. They think to call this all junk. But to me, I call them treasures. So if there's anything the other person wants, I'm sure to have it. And if they want to sell what they don't want anymore, I'll take it."

"But you have been getting shipments of newly made merchandise, correct?" Adrien asked. "I've noticed some looking freshly new."

"It's true, I have been ordering new shipments whenever I get the money to chance it. Except," he drew out the word, "with the civil war going on, and with the bandits going wild, few caravans come here anymore, leading to some… elevated prices." Summer was about to make a rebuttal, but he stopped her in her tracks. "But I did not lie when I said everything is on sale, which they are. So no need to worry about it."

It was just as Adrien had predicted, that with war comes crime, and this chaos this civil war would leave behind had made a lucrative opportunity for scum everywhere. Except there was one thing which struck as odd to him. The civil war had been going on for a few months, and the laws of the Nords were harsh enough not to let any bandit dare to make any funny business. Could it be that the war had gotten worse to the point where the roads were no longer kept safe?

"Sorry, sir," Sigurd called out from inside the storage room. "We don't have any smaller leather armor."

"Oh, damn," Belethor cursed. "Well, it looks like we don't have what you need. I would suggest meeting up with Adrienne and her husband down at the forge. Maybe you'll have better luck there."

"I will, thank you for your help." She nodded.

He shrugged in return, and then went on to business as usual as he clapped his hands. "Okay, that's enough chit-chat for today! Is this everything?"

"Yes, this'll be all," Adrien answered.

"All right, now…" He had already put in everything into the new bag (except for the clothes, bedrolls, skillet and the wool cape) as he hefted it onto the counter. He then muttered to himself, counting with his fingers while calculating the cost of each item in his head. "You got the backpack, a whetstone, a flint and steel, two bedrolls, two water skins, three torches, a wool cape, tunic and trousers with belt, two spoons, two forks, two knives, a cutting knife, two basic plates, a wooden plate, a wooden ladle, and a medium sized cast-iron pot…"

After almost a minute, he finally concluded calculating the cost. "All of this together will cost you 700 Septims. Unless you two want to pay separately."

"No, I'll pay for all of them," he answered as he unslung his backpack and started pulling out his coin bags and setting them on the counter. He set his backpack down and got to counting, and from each of the bags he pulled out six gold coins, and four silver coins to make up the total and placed each of them in front of the pawnbroker. The Breton muttered under his breath when he counted each of them, just as he plucked them up into his hand. He then put on a satisfied smile after picking them all up that the count was accurate.

"All right, another satisfied customer," he said as he put away the coins into his own separate bags behind the counter. "Anything else you'd like?"

"Actually, I have a dagger I would like to sell," he replied, then he got back down and rummaged through his backpack until he took out the enchanted dagger and placed it on the counter. "How much for this dagger of draining?"

Belethor hummed as he picked up the enchanted dagger and examined it, rubbing his chin while coming to a decision on the value of this weapon. "Alright, for an enchanted weapon like this, I'd say about 106 Septims."

"That's fine with me," he said without any attempt to haggle.

Satisfied with another transaction, he reached down behind the counter and brought out two coin purses onto the counter. He dug through both of them, and placed one gold coin and six coppers onto the knight's waiting hand. After sorting the coins into their designated purses, the transaction was complete, but to the knight, it was not yet over.

"Anything else?" Belethor asked.

"Yes, there is one more thing," he answered as he then grabbed the newly bought backpack and set it down next to his old one. He opened both of the bags, and transferred the items from the old bag over to the new one. Four minor healing potions, two minor mana potions, and a Sparks and Clairvoyance tome were all put into the new backpack, and by the look of it inside, there was still some room left. He placed the light armour smithing book onto the floor since he remembered that she had a knack for smithing. He also once thought of selling the two spell tomes, but since they reminded him that Summer activated the mage stone, he figured she could use them, just not yet.

"Here…," he said to Summer when he picked up the book and offered it to her. "This is for you."

"For me? What's this," she asked inquisitively as she accepted the offered book. She then read the title which piqued her interest more. "Light Armour Smithing…?"

"I found that book back in the mine. I remembered that you loved to forge, and since you've started learning how to forge armour, I figured this book can give you more insight."

"Wow, thank you, Adrien," she answered gratefully. "Although, I don't have much room in my small pack."

He looked inquisitively. "Why would you go about carrying a small bag?" Come to think of it, he never noticed her having a lump under her cloak to show she had a backpack.

"At the time, I chose to travel light since I've been assigned to hunting that… monster." She caught herself before she mentioned Grimm, but he understood what she meant. "All I'm carrying with me are potions, toiletries, snacks and my journal." She had left out her jar of Fire Dust for good reason.

He looked back down at the now empty backpack and contemplated.

"It's fine," he dismissed. "I'll carry the book for you whenever you're done reading."

"Thank you," she nodded with a smile on her lips, then handed the book back to him. "I won't be reading it now, but I'll let you know when I do."

"Of course." He got the book back from her and stuffed it in, and closed his new backpack up. Then he lifted himself and the empty backpack and set it on the counter. "I would like to sell this as well."

"All right, let's see…," he muttered to himself as he examined the backpack. It was obvious from the start that it would be a bit worn from both the coloration and the leather, but then he spotted what would the sell price for sure. "Looks like I'll take this at half the price."

Adrien raised a single brow. "What for? Is there something wrong?"

"Yeah, see this?" He pointed his finger at the top right leather strap, showing him that there was a sawn cut which nearly severed it off. "Judging by the way you were carrying that greatsword around, you were lucky it wasn't fully cut off. I think I can patch it up, but I'm lowering the value."

The knight turned his head right to glance at his iron greatsword. He soon realized, to his embarrassment, that his hunch was right as he sighed. He made what adventurers would call a rookie mistake when he should have remembered his greatsword hardly had a scabbard, just a leather holster to hold it in place. The strap obviously had been rubbing against the sharp edge the entire time he first acquired it.

"Okay, so what's the sell price, then," he asked.

"I would say about two silvers worth," he answered.

"...I suppose." Again, he did not try to haggle with the Breton as he took the two silver coins from him and put them in the bag. "That's everything, then."

"Okay, I wish you both luck on wherever it is you're going."

He nodded in thanks, and went to work with strapping both of the bedrolls under the backpack before hooking up the cast-iron pot. He was about to don his wool cape before remembering he still carried the stark naked iron greatsword on his back. So he undid the straps to the sword and took it off before donning the cape on. Then he put on the new backpack which hardly weighed him down. He picked the greatsword off the floor and laid it against the counter before grabbing the clothes and handed them to her. "Here."

She accepted them without hesitation.

"Belethor," he said as he turned to him, with a thought in mind about her changing into her new clothes. "Is there somewhere for her to change in private?"

"Sure, the innkeeper at the Bannered Mare can help you out. For a price of course."

"Thank you for all your help." With nothing else, he grabbed his greatsword, and only carried it in his hand, having a plan to hopefully buy a scabbard for it.

"Okay, let's go," he said to Summer, and the two headed out the door.

"Come back and see me again sometime. I'm sure I'll have something new when you get back," he called out.

"Thanks, we will," she replied before the door to the shop closed.

They were out of the store and back onto the square. They had the necessary gear for the trip, but there was a need for food for the trip back from the barrow. So they stopped at the two food stalls to browse for only a small amount needed. That was when Summer halted him.

"I'll go to the Bannered Mare to change," she suggested, though she was unsure. "Hopefully the innkeeper doesn't need me to pay for a small visit, would she?"

He looked down at her for a moment. He would have preferred to keep an eye on her just in case, but he should know she could handle herself on something mundane. But first…

"You should take one silver coin, just in case she says otherwise," he advised.

"You're probably right," she agreed.

He nodded, then he turned his back to her and got down on one knee. Summer took that as her que as she walked up to him and opened the backpack. She looked inside to see the three bags, but she did not know which one contained the silver coins. "Which one's the silver bag?"

"The middle one," he answered.

She opened the middle one, reached in and pulled out one, single silver coin. Then she closed the bag up, and the backpack after.

"Thanks, wish me luck," she said as she backed away and then turned to head towards the door to the inn.

Hoping she won't need it, he returned his attention back to the food stalls; the first one being the meat stall.

"Good afternoon there, stranger," the wood elf merchant greeted as he leaned in over the merchandise. "How can I help ya?"

He browsed over the options. He knew what he was looking for, but it could not hurt to know the other options beforehand. "What kind of dried meat do you have in stock?"

* * *

After opening the door to the inn did the creaking sound garner the innkeeper's attention. She was immediately met with the smell of food, booze and soot, a theme that was just as familiar to her back at the Sleeping Giant inn.

"Come on in," the innkeeper welcomed them from the bar counter ahead to her right. "Let me know if you need anything, or take a seat by the fire and I'll send someone over."

The interior of the inn/tavern was spacious and roomy, and like the palace (and all the other buildings), the artistry carved into the wood was well done. Two long wooden benches and patterned carpets flank the hearthfire burning in the middle of the inn, with the exception of the chair and stool placed at the other end. There were other furniture placed to both sides and at the back of the inn, with the difference as the normal sized chairs and tables flanking both of them, and the low table and chairs placed at the back. The entrance to the room to their left had her hazarding a guess that it must lead to the kitchen, and the door ahead of them would perhaps lead to the bedrooms. Summer also noticed a balcony above the base floor, which could be another bedroom. Hence the reason there were two columns and a staircase to the left. There was music being played by a bard who stood at the near end of the inn, strumming his lute to a tune fitting for the atmosphere in the room.

She did not take a seat, but instead the Huntress strode up to the bar counter to talk to her, all while some eyes were on her the moment she walked in, but they were not just looking at her. They were fixated on her strange attire that they had never come across before. But after taking half a minute of examining her, they lost interest and went back to their meals or drinks.

Meanwhile, Summer got close to the counter, but her nostrils were hit with a horrible stench that made her want to gag but held it down. It did not take much to investigate when she glanced right to spot a man sitting at the bar counter with a bottle of alcohol. His skin looked dark and dirty, and his clothes looked worn, ragged and almost just as dirty as his skin. The smell of food, booze, sweat and smoke she could ignore pretty easily, but having to endure smelling someone who had not bathed in over a week or more was another obstacle.

"Excuse me, miss?" She asked the innkeeper, who already had her attention while looking as if the smell did not exist. "Can I borrow one of your rooms for a minute? I gotta change." She emphasized by showing the folded clothes she had on one hand.

"Normally I would not let anyone use a room for free," the innkeeper turned her plea down with a straight face. "I hope you understand."

"Oh, uh, I understand." She figured, feeling a little embarrassed before muttering to herself. "I guess it was too much to ask." Then she returned her attention to innkeeper. "How much for a room, then?"

"Aww, come on, Hulda," the smelly drunk man whined sarcastically. "It's just a few minutes. What harm could it do?"

"Nothing," she replied annoyed. "But I'd rather not make it a habit of letting people get the wrong idea. Just get back to your drink."

"Ehh~, whatever." He ended his fuss just like that and went back to his drink as he downed a gulp.

"Right, the price." She went back to business. "I can let you use the room for half-an-hour with, let's say, five coppers. Sound good?"

"Well, I have one silver coin, so it's a done deal." She pulled out the silver coin from her left pocket and gave it to her. She nodded in agreement, and she knelt down behind the counter. she could hear the innkeeper fiddling around with the sounds of coins before she reappeared again with a handful of copper coins.

"Here you are," she said as she showed her the change. "Twenty coppers."

"Thanks." She took the change in hand and put them all into her pocket. Luckily, her pockets were big enough to fit all of them, but she made a mental note to buy a coin purse of her own next time.

"I'll show you to your room. Follow me." Hulda stepped away from the bar counter and left her position while Summer followed her. They went up the stairs, and the innkeeper pulled out her ring of keys, but picked the one of all of them. She inserted the key, twisted it, and the click could be heard. She untwisted it, and she opened the door as they both walked in.

Summer had entered into a spacious room which, to her, looked like an upgrade to the cramped bedroom she had used back at the other inn. The furniture looked more expensive and decorated, the bed looked like a comfort level better than the straw bed she once slept in, and it had another doorway connecting to the balcony she saw earlier. If anything, this felt more like a room meant for a VIP.

"Are you sure I can use this room?" she asked, looking uncertain as she looked around.

"It's fine," she assured with dismissal. "The other bedrooms have the same furnishings. Although this room gives you access to the balcony view. Let me know when you're done."

"I will," she nodded. "Thank you, Hulda."

She nodded back. Then she closed the door and went back down stairs. Now having all the privacy to herself, she might as well get started changing right away by undoing and removing her hooded white cloak.

* * *

Meanwhile, Adrien acquired two wrappings of dried beef for only two silvers. It was not a bad deal in the slightest, and he would have gladly bought more given the taste, but remained strict with his plan and his remaining money. He had been introduced to several options of dried meat, but was soon convinced by the wood elf to try out the dried beef instead. Which was how he ended up buying two wrappings after trying a taste. So he went to the next stall where the fruits and vegetables were put on display. This stall was being run by an Imperial woman, a fellow native from his homeland. She had on a beautiful look to her, he would admit, but the expression she was giving off bordered between bored and annoyed. When he got in front of her view, and before he could utter a word...

"I hope you're looking at me like that because you want to buy something." She commented.

The remark made him feel perplexed. "I'm just here to buy produce, ma'am, that's all," he answered.

"Well that's good." She sighed in exasperation. "Life's hard enough with all these men propositioning me." Then she frustratingly sighed in disgust. "Ugh, but why can't that bard just leave me alone?!"

"Some bard giving you trouble?" He asked, his curiosity now piqued.

"The bard's name is Mikael. I swear he's begging for a dagger up against his throat, the way he goes on about me. I've heard him boasting at the Bannered Mare, saying he'll 'conquer me as a true Nord conquers any harsh beast.' Hmph."

"What if I can convince Mikael to stop bothering you?" Though this should not be any of his business, but the chivalric code within him begged him to help a woman in distress.

"If you want to try, go right ahead. I don't think anything will get through that thick skull of his, though."

"You'd be surprised," he declared. "I'll be right back."

He left the stall and made a beeline for the Bannered Mare. He had a way with words when it came to solving problems, either with troublemakers or other situations. But, if it ever came down to it when words were to fail, at least he could let his fists do the talking.

* * *

Summer was all done changing into her new clothes, or just added layer. There was, unfortunately, no mirror for her to check herself out, but she could guess just by looking down at herself. She kept her white undershirt and bolero long-sleeve, but decided to remove her corset and skirt on account of the tunic reaching all the way down to her knees, and knowing she was going to be getting some leather armor, so she did not want any more restrictions to her fighting style. She kept her leggings on, and wore her trousers over them and tucked them under her combat boots, but loosened them up a bit for ease of movement. It was lucky for her that she chose to buy a leather belt to keep her new trousers up. She had her gear and weapon belt wrapped over the tunic and around her waist, although there were no slots to keep the belt in place, so she would have to get creative with her tunic sooner or later.

With her pieces of clothing folded and stored in her bag, and with all her gear back in place, she walked out the door. She was currently hearing the beginnings of a song while walking down the stairs, played by the bard downstairs called Ragnar The Red. It was almost catchy but odd to her ears about a man riding to Whiterun from Rorikstead. She got to the base floor when she saw Adrien already inside the inn, during the part where Ragnar boasted about his battles and gold he had made. The knight seemed to be going about with a purpose.

"Adrien," she called him.

She got his attention, and although he did not say anything, he smiled and waved at her before returning his focus on the bard. Mikael was now at the part where a shield maiden named Matilda called out on his boasting and challenged him to a duel. The battle was depicted as fierce, but the song soon ended with Ragnar's head rolling around on the floor. The patrons of the inn applauded his performance as usual. That became his cue as he walked passed the hearth fire and over to him. He knew it would have been rude to interrupt his performance.

"Hey there," Mikael greeted the armored stranger. "If it's a lady you're looking for, you best look elsewhere. Once Mikael gets them, they're got." He remarked as he casually assumed that was what he was after.

"That is what I'm here to talk about," he answered. "I want you to leave her alone."

"Carlotta set you up to this, didn't she." He accused after knowing right away who he was referring to, not backing down as he placed his fists against his hips. "I'm sorry, but that fiery widow is mine. She just doesn't know it yet."

"If that were true, then she should have been at your side by now. Come on, she's not yours. So stop this nonsense."

Mikael was taken aback by this. He hesitated, struggled to make a comeback, but nothing came out. Realizing he was right, he then sighed in resignation. "Maybe you're right, and… maybe she'd be by my side if she was mine. She wouldn't have sent a sellsword to talk me off either." With difficulty he added: "You… can send word to her. I won't be bothering her again. My, er… My word on it."

"Good, I'll hold you to it." Then the knight walked away from him and approached his companion, who watched the whole shortly lived argument happen.

"What was that all about?" She asked as the bard started playing his lute since the entertainment must go on, albeit with a bit of difficulty.

"The bard was flirting with a woman selling fruits and vegetables. So I took it upon myself to resolve the problem."

"Hm, so you're a knight in shining armor after all," she remarked with a smirk as she placed her fists against her hips and moved her hips to one side.

"It's part of what I am, after all."

She then switched to a different topic. "So, what do you think? Does it suit me?"

"Yeah, I think it does," he nodded. "It'll definitely keep you warm in the cold climate."

"I hope so. Maybe the leather armor would make for added warmth?"

"I think so." Speaking of armor, he then waved for her. "Come on, let's go see that blacksmith."

She nodded in agreement, and before they left, she turned to Hulda who had returned to her station and spoke over the music. "Hey Hulda, I'm done. Thank you for the room."

"It's no problem."

The two were soon out of the door after that.

* * *

Carlotta, as usual, made vocal of her merchandise, hoping to convince some of the native customers to come and buy her wares. Her daughter was sitting about, enjoying the time playing with her doll. Her mother thought that things were going to be just as dull as usual when the merchant soon noticed she was being visited again by the knight, but this time with a female companion. "So, did you put some sense into him yet?"

"Indeed I have," he answered. "He won't be bothering you any longer."

This news surprised her. "Really? You convinced that lute player to stop chasing me? I'd thank the gods, but I'll settle for thanking you." She reached behind the counter and pulled up a coin purse as she set on the counter. She only took out one gold coin before closing the purse back up. "Here's a gold coin for your help." She handed the coin out to him, but he shook his hand in refusal.

"I have no need for it, and I'd rather you keep it for both you and your daughter. I'm just glad to have helped."

She was taken aback again as she smiled and put the coin back. "Huh, wow! You really are a chivalrous one, aren't you. Are you sure you're not a knight?"

"Actually I am a knight."

Now she was confused as she raised an eyebrow, eyeing him up and down. "Really? You don't exactly look the type."

"It's a long story. But long story short, I had been robbed of everything during the night and now I'm starting from scratch again." He explained cryptically.

She looked him in the eye with sympathy. "Well, I wish you luck on that. Not many knights would come to Skyrim, especially during the civil war." Then she went back to business. "Anyways, I'm sure you're still interested in buying my produce, right? I can assure you that I get fresh produce everyday, right to this stall."

"And I still am." He took a step closer to the stall to browse when Summer spoke up.

"Hey, how about I take it from here?" She proposed.

He looked down at her for a few seconds before coming to agree with her and nodded. He would rather want to do all the menial tasks for her sake until she came to terms with her situation, but there were times when he must give the respect she deserves. After all, she proved herself back in that cave as a fighter, not a damsel in distress. On the positive side, it would make for a good distraction for her.

"Thanks." Since she still had twenty Septims left to spend, she might as well use it. "What kind of meat did you buy?"

"I bought two wrappings of dried beef," he answered.

"Hmm, that would make for some beef soup with vegetables," she pondered.

"Only take what's needed. We can't carry leftovers." He advised.

"You're right." She turned to browse the selections on display for a minute or two. "I'll have two carrots, one potato, and two garlic."

"Alright, with that mix, that'll be sixteen coppers." Carlotta calculated.

"Good thing I have more than enough." She grabbed a handful of copper coins, picked sixteen of them, and gave them to the merchant.

"Good doing business with you," she thanked her.

She nodded with a smile, and picked out the ingredients she had bought. She turned to face him with the handful of ingredients she bought. "Your backpack, please?" He turned his back to her again and got down on one knee, letting her open up the backpack and putting all the ingredients in, and returning the coins she had left into the bag on the right before closing the bag, and the backpack back up.

He stood back up and turned around. "This should be enough for the trip. All you need now is the leather armour before we head out."

She nodded, but before they went to the blacksmith, there was a question that had been itching her mind, so she turned back to face Carlotta. "Before I go, there's something I would like to ask. Was that bard the only man bothering you?"

She sighed. "Girl, you've got no idea. Half the men in Whiterun have proposed to me. Some were even single."

This information made her feel uncomfortably confused. "U-Uhm, i-is that customary for men to have more than one wife?"

The merchant shook her head with a grimace. "No, it's not customary here, thank the gods."

"Oh, that's good to hear, I guess." She felt a little glad to hear, but she still felt disgusted by these husbands.

"...Degenerates," Adrien commented with disgust.

"Yeah, but all in all, they'll never understand. No amount of flowers or honeyed words are going to change my mind. Right now, all that matters is my daughter Mila. No man's going to get between me and my little girl." She looked to her little Mila sitting off to the side with a kind, motherly smile, while the girl looked back with her own. Summer looked at the little dark haired girl with warm thoughts of home.

"I know exactly how you feel." She told Carlotta. "I'm a mother of two little girls. One of them is still a baby."

"Aww, how sweet," Carlotta cooed. "Where are they now?"

' _Summer, what are you doing,'_ Adrien internally panicked as he looked down at her.

She halted herself, realizing just now she had gotten carried away. So, she quickly came up with an explanation.

"I… I'm not really from Tamriel." She made her answer with guilt and sorrow, with some honesty even though it was a lie. "My family lives on an island country beyond the shore. I was tasked with hunting down a crazy wizard but… as you can see, that man magically sent me here, away from him and my family." She lowered her head. "Now I'm lost."

"Oh, you poor dear," the merchant said, understanding her situation and unwittingly falling for it at the same time. "I hope you do find your way back."

"Thanks." She sadly smiled as she lifted her head back up. "I was told about a mages college being here in Skyrim. I'll be starting there, hopefully."

"Well, to be honest, you don't exactly look prepared for the journey," she said frankly. "That glacial part of Skyrim up north is so cold, you'll freeze to death in almost half an hour. I suggest you buy more layers of clothing or fur if you want to take the trek up north."

"Thanks for the advice. Of course, I'm going to need the coin which I don't have myself at the moment. So I'll be sticking around the southern parts for a while."

"Smart choice," she nodded. "I should let you go. Good luck on your journey, you two."

"Farewell, then." The two started walking down the main road when they heard a little girl calling out to them in a cheery voice.

"Come back next time!" Mila called out as she waved her arm.

"We will," Summer called back, looking behind her with a heartwarming smile and waving back to her as she walked away, before returning her gaze to the smithy.

Meanwhile, happening opposite from the forge/shop was the housecarl Irileth, addressing the three guardsmen she gathered outside what they assume would be the guard barracks. They had somewhat of a hard time what she was saying due to the sound of the hammer hitting the metal from around the corner, but they were able to make out what she was talking about.

"The Jarl has agreed to send you back to Riverwood," Irileth declared.

"Yes, housecarl. We'll leave immediately," the guard replied, sounding a bit eager to head to the village.

"It's just us against a dragon, is that it?" The second guard next to him asked, with some apprehension in his voice.

"I can't afford to send anyone else. And we don't know where the dragon is. Your main job will be to keep an eye out and get the people to safety if the town is attacked. I don't expect the three of you to fight off a dragon by yourselves. But I do expect you to do your duty."

"Of course. We'll keep Riverwood safe. You can count on it." Then he spoke to his comrades. "Let's move out. Time's a wastin'."

Meanwhile, the two companions got closer to the forge where they could see the lady from when they first came in, working with a purpose next to heat of the burning charcoal, standing over an anvil as she pounded away at a long slab of what should be the beginnings of a sword blade. Her smithy had the same creation as Alvor's, with the only difference being the placement of the workbench and the grindstone. There was also an addition that was built further back, and she hazard a guess that it would be the smelter given its design.

"Excuse me," Summer said politely.

The blacksmith Adrienne was broken out of her focus, and stopped pounding the metal as she looked up at her approaching customers with a brief, surprised look in her eyes before reverting to her normal expression.

"Hello there," she greeted casually as she put the length of metal into the trough to cool off. "Something I can help you with? Perhaps you're looking to buy?"

"I'm looking to buy." Summer answered. "I'm here to buy leather armor that would fit me, and my friend is hoping you have a scabbard for his greatsword. Do you think you have them in stock?"

"Leather armor that fits you, huh…?" She thought about it after examining her figure, then looked down at the iron greatsword held in his hand. "I think I have a set that might be your size, and I'm certain I have a scabbard for that. Come with me."

They followed her into the store. Like the general goods store, this place was stocked, but only with forged tools, weapons and armor on display. Several mannequins wore different armor sets standing between low shelves. Filled weapons racks were filed along the walls, and a few other armor and weapon displays were arrayed on tables and low shelves in the middle of the store. At the back, a burly, bearded Nord with combed back, long dark hair, stood leaning forward behind the counter. He wore iron armor as a way of being part of the store.

"Welcome to Warmaidens," he greeted in a gruff but friendly tone as he saw Adrienne leading her customers into the shop.

"Good morning," he greeted back, then looked around at all the weapons and pieces she made.

"Wooah…," Summer was in awe of the classic armaments all around her. If anyone else were around her, they could have sworn to have seen stars in her eyes. "It's like an armory in here!"

"I've spent much of my hard work forging them," Adrienne said humbly but with a proud glint to her eyes, then she faced Adrien as she pointed to his left. "The sheaths and scabbards are at the left wall."

"Thank you." He nodded, then went off to check out the scabbards.

"Now…," she turned her attention to Summer, who was still looking around all starry eyed. "Let's see if we can fit you into that leather armor I made a while back." The Huntress had returned to her normal self after hearing her, agreed with an earnest nod and followed the blacksmith to the back of the shop, but when it turned out to be a chest placed near the counter to the left, Summer waited in front across the shopkeeper.

"You look new around here," the Nord shopkeeper observed out loud. "Hailing from High Rock, right?"

"Actually, I'm from one of the small islands overseas," she answered as she met his gaze. "I'm pretty much a foreigner here, but yes, I am a Breton."

"Really? Must be idyllic."

"It really is."

"Here it is." The blacksmith announced as she came back with the armor and large belt buckle held up in each of her hands in presentation. The armor, with the gorget, torso, and tassets (save for the attached twin smooth spaulders) were all held together by belts and straps, and some areas were studded. The torso (gorget included) make a solid cover of most of her upper body, and the same assessment went with the tassets covering half the legs with its built in layers to their sides, and the spaulders had two layers for extra protection to the shoulders. The only problem she could spot were the exposure of the armpits, but she knew there would be no problem as long as she kept her distance. The armor, strangely enough, almost looked just to be her size.

"All right, let me help you get into this armor," Adrienne offered. "Take off your cloak first."

"Sure," she nodded, and took off her white cloak and set it on the counter, but then she noticed she would have to take her gear, quiver and travel pack off as well. So she got to work with taking out her axes and set them on the counter along with the cloak, meanwhile as Adrienne and the shopkeeper eyed those two strange axes and the strange arrow quiver with curiosity. Next, she undid the gear belt buckle and removed it from around her waist, then took off her travel pack and placed them on the counter. Now she was ready.

"Alright, then." The blacksmith set the belt buckle aside on the counter next to the cloak and gear, then got to work in disconnecting the belt straps to the armor until they were in three pieces. She loosened the belted straps to the sides of the chest piece for ease of fit. She lifted it over Summer's head, and the Huntress raised her hands up at the descending chest piece as she eased through the opening. It was luckily easy for her head to go through the leather gorget, and with obviously no complications for her arms either. With the chest piece now worn, Adrienne went to work firmly tightening the belted straps to her sides to keep them in place, all while Summer kept her arms horizontal and spread apart like an eagle, since not only would she be keeping them out of the way, the belted arm straps attached to the spaulders were going to be worked on next. After being done with the side straps, her next focus was the armstraps as she looped the belt through the buckle and locked each of them, but did not tighten them in order to give movement to her arms. Next were the tassets as she belted them to both sides of her waist, and finished the armor by connecting the fur lined belt buckle around her waist above the tassets.

"There, all done," she announced as she backed away from her handiwork and placed her fists to her hips. "What do you think?"

Summer looked down all over herself. The leather armor seemed to fit her just right despite the size. although she saw that her tassets reached down a little past her knees, her legs were fine with the legroom as she moved her leg up and down, left and right, forward and back. She rolled her shoulders, moved her arms about in different directions, and she even moved and twisted her body. It was a little restrictive in some areas, she will admit, but other than that, the functionality of the armor was okay. Yet there was something odd about it, like this armor was almost made for someone nearly her size, and the only one to answer that was the blacksmith herself.

"This armor nearly fits me like a glove, but I can't help but feel that this armor was made for someone else in mind."

"Yes, this armor was made for a Breton woman I tailored to a while back. She promised to come back after two weeks… but it's been three months since she last visited me." She explained her story almost morbidly like it was nothing new.

"Do you think she forgot about it?" She asked, trying to think on the bright side.

"I've never met a customer who would forget their order. She either did find better protection, or the land took her life. This is how life is in Skyrim." She shrugged as if it were a normal occurrence.

"I see…," she replied, a bit unnerved by how she easily rolled with what possibly could have happened to her previous customer. "Well, I'm hoping it's more the former."

"If that were so, then she had already forfeited her order, either or. So, do you want to purchase this?"

"... Yes, I'll have it paid for," she decided, not seeing any other option.

"I got what I've searched for." Adrien said as he approached them with the long leather scabbard in hand. He looked at Summer in her new armor that would soon be purchased. "It really fits you quite well."

"Thank you." She nodded.

He turned his gaze back to Adrienne. "I'm a bit surprised this scabbard was the only one of its kind in here."

"Iron weapons were never given that much attention other than being cheap to make," the shopkeeper explained. "But my wife here wanted to give it a try anyways in case anyone was interested."

"And it would seem it paid off in the end." Adrienne stated. "Does it fit well?"

"It definitely does. You do great work." Adrien thanked.

"I'm glad you'd say so." She then returned her attention to the Huntress. "How about we get you a helmet to that armor, eh?"

"Umm… I think I'll pass on that offer," she answered with some uncertainty of wearing a helmet.

"Are you sure about that? Can't keep your head protected without it."

She shook her head. "It's not that. I do appreciate your concern, I'm just thinking it might not keep my head warm. We're heading to Bleak Falls Barrow, you see."

"Uhh-huuh." She crossed her arms and pondered. "I can't say I agree with your choice of warmth over protection… But you and I are not Nords, so I understand." Then she put her finger to her chin as she thought of what she had in stock that would give her customer's head the warmth she needed, and it only took a few seconds to remember. "I do have a fur helmet you can wear that will keep you warm during your trek up the mountain. Wait here."

She walked past the Huntress and to the low shelf at the far end of the shop where she picked up the fur helmet and brought it back to her. "Here's the fur helmet. A customer sold this to me a few weeks ago. It's not much in terms of style, but at least it will keep your head warm as you make the climb."

Summer accepted the offering and inspected it. It was stitched and sewn together from the hide of an unknown animal… or perhaps more than one. It was a little more than enough to fit her head, and although there was no string to keep the helmet or cap in place, her hood would be enough of a substitute.

"I think this'll work well," Summer said.

"Good. Now, are both of you ready to purchase?" Adrienne asked.

"I'll pay for all of them," Adrien replied.

"Are you sure she can't pay her own?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Actually," she interjected, "we agreed that he would be the one to carry our currency."

"Oh. Well all right, then." She turned her attention back to the knight. "With the three items you all have, the total cost will be three hundred and thirty three septims."

"Reasonable enough," Adrien accepted, then he looked at Summer. "Will you kindly help take out the coin bags from my pack before putting your gear back on?"

"Certainly," she replied.

The knight turned his back to her and kneeled down again, and Summer opened the backpack and grabbed the three coin bags as she set each of them on the counter before, instead of locking it, she simply covered it loosely. The knight stood up again, turned to face his partner and nodded to her in thanks.

"Okay, I'll be getting my gear back on while you make the purchase," she said as she then got to work. Meanwhile, Adrien calculated the number of coins he took from the silver, copper and gold bag, totaling 18. He then gave the last gold coin, 9 silver coins, and eight copper coins to her husband. With the deal done, he waited for Summer to be done as she slid her axes back into their holsters of her gear belt. She was finished after putting her white cloak back on and adjusting it. "Okay, I'm ready."

He nodded to the coin bags awaiting to be placed back inside the backpack. She got the message clearly and grabbed the coin bags as he turned around and did the same procedure. After the coins were placed inside and pack was now firmly clamped and sealed, the two gave their thanks for their help, and bid them farewell until they were out the door.

"You saw that strange quiver and axes, right?" Her husband asked. "What do you think of them? Dwemer maybe?"

"Maybe, but they don't have the same metal composition. and they're too mechanical."

"Could've had the chance to ask."

"I could have, but I decided not to pry, not yet."

"Maybe once they come back you'll get your chance."

"If I'll get the chance," she doubted. "We'll have to see."

* * *

After they were outside, Adrien took the time to equip his sheathed greatsword after taking off his backpack and wool cape. He finished buckling the straps, with the greatsword scabbard angling right to left as usual. Then, he put on his cape and re-slung his backpack. After doing a double check, he was now ready to go.

"All right, we have everything we need," Adrien declared. "Time to head back to Riverwood."

Summer nodded, but had a look of concern. "I hope the village is still okay while we were gone."

"It's been a few more hours," Adrien tried to reassure her. "I know it means much, but if it was under attack, they'll be hiding in the mine in safety until then."

"That does help me feel a little better." She felt somewhat assured, but the only way for her to feel fully assured would be to reach the village. Still, the mentioning of the mine reminded her of the deed he did, unfortunately, bringing her back to being uncomfortable.

"I'm sure Alvor and the others would be glad to see us again." He stated.

"I'm sure they will." She nodded in agreement with a soft smile. The two of them headed out to the gate, and as one, they pushed open the doors back into the outside world once more.

Adrien's Wealth: 0 Gold + 19 Silver + 84 Copper = 559 Septims

Summer's Wealth: 0 Gold, 0 Silver, 0 Copper

* * *

 **A/N: Okay… about time, right? Besides my life, this chapter took quite a while to get it right. I had to do multiple major rewrites because of how inconsistent I accidentally made them, and I don't really want to go over them in detail. Let's just say they involve the two main characters, the world building, and keeping track of currency and items. I understand that nothing happened… sort of, if you count the side quest with Carlotta, but this nearly whole chapter was dedicated to their preparations. I did plan on writing about the two having a chat down the road before Riverwood, but I ended up with this instead and I had put in enough words to consider this as a chapter. I do promise you that I'll be writing in the adventures up in Bleakfalls Barrow. So yeah, other than how much of a pain it would be to keep track of all their items and their money, I think it turned out pretty good.**

 **I still haven't gotten an answer from you guys about putting the special chapter in Bloodborne Twin yet, and since I've nearly been done with it, it's been sitting around waiting for your reply. If you don't want it, let me know in the review, and I'll skip straight to chapter 20.**

 **Again, I give my shoutout to CruxMDQ for his proofreading and Suggestions.**

 **This is Kyro2009, signing off.**


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